Institutional 
History  of  Virginia 

In  the  Seventeenth  Century 


An  Inquiry  into  tKe  Religious,  Moral,  Edu- 
cational,  Legal,   Military,   and  Political 
Condition  of  tKe  People 

Based    on   Original    and    Contemporaneous    Records 


By 
Philip  Alexander  Bruce,  LL.D, 

Author  of  "Economic  History  Of  Virginia  in  the  Seventeenth  Century,' 

"Social  Life  of  Virginia  in  the  Seventeenth  Century,"  "The 

Plantation  Negro  as  a  Freeman,"  "  Short  History  of 

the   United  States,"    "Rise  of    the  New 

South,"  "Life  of  General  Robert 

E.  Lee,"  etc. 


Two  Volumes 
Volume  II 


G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons 

New    Yorh    and    London 

Gbe  f?ntckerbocftec  press 
1910 


Copyright,  1910 

BY 

PHILIP  ALEXANDER  BRUCE 


Ube  'ftnfcfeerbocfeer  ipress,  mew  Borft 


*o'fl 


pj 


CONTENTS 

PART  IV 
MILITARY  SYSTEM 

HAPTER  PAGE 

I.    General  Regulations— Persons  Liable 

to  Serve 3 

II.    General  Regulations-the  Officers      .       15 

III.    General       Regulations  —  Arms       and 

Ammunition         .....       30 

IV.    General       Regulations  —  Arms       and 

Ammunition 46 

V.    General  Regulations — Drill  and  Dis- 
cipline         *  61 

VI.  Indian  Wars — Popular  Apprehension         71 

VII.  Indian  Wars — Marches  .         .         .       78 

VIII.  Indian  Wars — Forts      .         .         .         -97 

IX.  Indian  Wars — Rangers  .         .115 

X.  Foreign  Invasion — Early  Forts  .         .     123 

XI.    Foreign     Invasion — Fort     at     Point 

Comfort  after  1630    .         .         .         .     135 

XII.    Foreign  Invasion — Later  Forts     .         .     150 

XIII.  Foreign  Invasion — Later  Forts     .         .     163 

XIV.  Foreign  Invasion— Guard  Ships     .         .178 


596394 


iv  Contents 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

XV.    Foreign  Invasion — European  Foes        .  190 

XVI.  Foreign  Invasion — Pirates    .         .         .  203 
XVII.    Foreign  Invasion — Pirates    .         .         .217 

PART  V 

POLITICAL  CONDITION 

I.    Government  under  the  Charters        .  229 

II.    Government  under  the  Charters          .  242 

III.    Government  under  the  Crown    .         .  255 

IV.    English  Board  of  Control    .         .         .  267 

V.    Loyalty  to  the  Throne  .         .         .274 

VI.    Territorial  Divisions  ....  287 

VII.    The  Governor — His  Appointment  .         .  300 

VIII.    The  Governor — Length  of  Term  .         .310 

IX.    The  Governor — Powers  and  Duties       .  316 

X.    The  Governor — His  Residence      .         .  332 

XL    The  Governor — His  Remuneration         .  340 

XII.    The  Governor — State  and  Dignity        .  352 

XIII.  The  Council — Its  Membership       .         .  358 

XIV.  The  Council — How  Appointed        .         .  368 

XV.    The  Council — Powers  and  Remunera- 
tion     374 

XVI.    The  Council — Officers   and    Place  of 

Meeting 387 

XVII.  Secretary    of    State — Incumbents    of 

the  Office 391 


Contents  v 

CHAPTER  pACB 

XVIII.    Secretary    of     State  —  Powers    and 

Remuneration  .....  396 

XIX.    House    of    Burgesses — First    Legis- 
lative Bodies 403 

XX.    House    of    Burgesses — Summons   and 

Basis  of  Suffrage     ....  407 

XXI.    House  of  Burgesses — Place  and  Man- 
ner of  Election        .         .         .         .417 

XXII.    House    of    Burgesses — Its    Member- 
ship             423 

XXIII.  House    of  Burgesses — Frequency    of 

Sessions           .         .         .         .  431 

XXIV.  House  of  Burgesses — Remuneration.  435 

XXV.    House  of  Burgesses — Place  of  Meet- 
ing             450 

XXVI.    House  of  Burgesses — Hour  of  Meet- 
ing and  Attendance        .         .         .  462 

XXVII.  House  of  Burgesses — Its  Officers      .  468 

XXVIII.  House  of  Burgesses — Procedure  and 

Committees    .         .         .         .         .  477 

XXIX.     House  of  Burgesses — General  Spirit  489 

XXX.    The  General  Assembly      .         .'■•-.  500 

XXXI.    General    Assembly  —  Revised    Acts  508 

XXXII.    General     Assembly — By-Laws     and 

Agents           .         .         .         .         .  515 

XXXIII.  Taxation — General  History      .         .  522 

XXXIV.  Taxation — Public  and  County  Levies  534 
XXXV.     Taxation— The  Poll  Tax    .         .         .540 


vi  Contents 


CHAPTER 


XXXVI.    Taxation— The  Tithables        .         .  548 

XXXVII.    Taxation — The  Assessment     .         .  556 

XXXVIII.    Taxation — Collection  of  Poll  Tax  570 

XXXIX.    Taxation— The  Quit-Rent       .         .  575 

XL.    Taxation — Indirect  Taxes  .    .         .581 

XLI.    Taxation — Collectors  and  Naval 

Officers              .         .         .         .  590 

XLII.    Taxation — Auditor  and  Treasurer  598 

XLIII.    Conclusion 605 

Index 637 


Part  IV 
The  Military  System 


CHAPTER  I 
General  Regulations :  Persons  Liable  for  Service 

THE  Military  System  of  Virginia  in  the  Seventeenth 
century  was  based  entirely  on  a  militia.  The 
Colony  never  sought  to  establish  a  regular  army 
for  constant  service,  unless  the  companies  of  rangers 
guarding  the  frontiers  could  be  looked  upon  in  that 
light.  For  a  short  time  only  were  the  red  coats  of 
English  troops  seen  at  Jamestown ;  and  with  the  excep- 
tion of  the  conflicts  among  the  Virginians  themselves 
occurring  during  the  Insurrection  of  1676,  or  of  English 
seamen  with  pirates,  as  in  Lynnhaven  Bay  in  1700,  no 
event  approaching  the  character  of  a  battle  took  place 
on  the  Colony's  soil  or  in  its  waters,  between  white 
persons  during  the  course  of  this  long  period.  Never- 
theless, its  military  system  was  fairly  well  organized 
as  a  protection  against  Indian  invasion  by  land,  and 
foreign  invasion  by  both  land  and  sea.  There  was  never, 
as  it  turned  out,  a  well  founded  reason  for  apprehension 
on  the  score  of  a  European  foe  except  during  the  pro- 
gress of  the  wars  with  the  Dutch,  but  the  danger  of 
Indian  incursions  was  almost  always  present;  and  at 
times  that  danger  developed  into  an  actual  attack, 
which  carried  destruction  far  and  wide  among  the 
frontier  settlements,  and  even  to  the  very  heart  of  the 
Colony.  The  recollection  of  the  appalling  massacres 
of  1 62  2  and  1 644  was  enough  in  itself  to  cause  the  people 

3 


4  The  Military  System 

to  maintain  a  more  or  less  efficient  military  system  so 
long  as  any  savages  roamed  along  the  borders,  as  they 
continued  to  do  down  to  the  last  day  of  the  century. 

Before  entering  into  a  detailed  account  of  the  special 
means  used  to  ward  off  an  Indian  or  foreign  invasion, 
it  will  be  appropriate  to  inquire  into  the  general  regula- 
tions governing  the  Colony's  military  system.  One 
of  the  earliest  as  well  as  one  of  the  most  important  of 
these,  adopted  about  eight  years  after  the  mem- 
orable Orders  of  1618,  put  an  end  forever  to  the  mar- 
tial laws  previously  controlling  the  community ;  in  the 
instructions  given  to  Yeardley  in  1626,  it  was  expressly 
enjoined  that,  with  the  exception  of  men  newly  arrived, 
who  were  to  be  called  upon  to  defend  only  the  place 
where  they  had  settled  should  it  be  assailed,  every  male 
individual  above  seventeen  years  of  age  and  under 
sixty  was  to  be  liable  to  be  summoned  to  war,  and  to 
perform  military  duties  in  proportion  to  his  abilities. 
It  shows  the  strict  attention  paid  to  personal  distinctions 
in  these  times  that,  unless  the  necessity  was  an  urgent 
one,  no  officer  could  be  compelled  to  go  forth  on  a  hos- 
tile expedition  in  the  character  of  a  private  soldier.1 
The  like  instructions  as  to  general  military  service  were 
given  to  Berkeley  when,  in  1 641-2,  he  received  his  first 
commission  as  Governor  of  Virginia;  they  contained 
but  one,  and  that  an  unimportant,  modification  as 
compared  with  the  instructions  given  to  Yeardley  about 
fifteen  years  before,  namely,  the  military  age  was  to 
begin  at  sixteen.2  Should  any  person,  subject,  under 
these  general  regulations,  to  military  duty,  refuse  or 

1  Instructions  to  Yeardley,  1626,  Robinson  Transcripts,  p.  45. 

2  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1606-62,  p,  226.  This  remained  the  law 
until  the  end  of  the  century;  see  Beverley's  History  of  Virginia,  p. 
218. 


Persons  Liable  for  Service  5 

neglect  to  respond  to  the  summons,  he  exposed  him- 
self to  severe  punishment.  When,  in  1627,  Richard 
Bickley  declined  to  take  up  arms  after  being  ordered 
to  do  so  by  Ensign  John  Utie,  he  was  promptly  ar- 
rested; and  having  been  carried  before  the  General 
Court  and  tried,  was  sentenced  to  be  laid  neck  and  heels 
for  the  space  of  twelve  hours;  and  also  to  pay  a  fine  of 
one  hundred  pounds  of  tobacco,  at  this  time  in  itself  a 
heavy  penalty  owing  to  the  high  price  of  the  commodity.  * 
An  Act  of  Assembly  passed  in  1639  declared  that 
every  person  of  the  male  sex  of  the  legal  age,  unless  a 
negro  slave,  should  be  compelled  to  furnish  his  military 
services  whenever  the  occasion  for  it  arose;  and  only 
one  year  later,  it  was  provided  that  every  master  of  a 
family  should  be  held  responsible  for  the  performance 
of  military  duties  by  each  of  its  members  physically 
capable  of  bearing  arms. 2  The  word  ' '  family ' '  appear- 
ing in  the  body  of  this  law  was  intended  to  embrace 
every  dependant  of  the  master  except  the  negro  slave, 
who  was  again  excepted  from  the  scope  of  the  statute. 
In  not  excluding  the  white  servant,  the  General  Assem- 
bly perhaps  bore  in  mind  the  fact  that,  in  time,  such  a 
person  would  become  a  freeman  and  his  usefulness  as  a 
citizen  would  be  increased  and  not  diminished  by  the 
military  training  which  he  might  receive  while  still 
bound  by  articles  of  indenture.  The  negro  slave,  on 
the  other  hand,  could  not  look  forward  to  a  day  of 
emancipation;  and  instruction  in  the  use  of  the  gun, 
sword,  and  pike  would  only  encourage  him  to  turn  that 
knowledge  against  his  master  in  order  to  secure  his  own 
liberation  by  force.3 

1  Orders  May  7,  1627,  Robinson  Transcripts,  p.  65. 

2  Robinson  Transcripts,  p.  215;  Randolph  MS.,  vol.  iii.,  p.  231. 

3  Acts  of  Assembly  1639,  Randolph  MS.,  vol.  iii.,  p.  231. 


6  The  Military  System 

The  exclusion  of  the  slaves  grew  more  rigid  with  the 
passage  of  time,  for  as  their  number  expanded,  the 
danger  of  accustoming  them  to  arms  only  increased. 
A  like  apprehension  gradually  sprang  up  in  connection 
with  the  white  servants  as  this  part  of  the  population 
came  to  form  a  larger  proportion  of  the  whole  com- 
munity. By  1672,  only  those  white  servants  were 
admitted  to  the  ranks  of  the  militia  whose  terms  had 
nearly  expired1 ;  and  these  simply  because  it  was 
felt  that,  as  they  would  so  soon  become  freemen,  they 
would  have  no  inducement  to  turn  their  weapons 
against  their  masters;  and  also  because  it  would  be 
well  for  them,  in  anticipation  of  their  approaching 
citizenship,  to  enjoy  a  military  training.  When,  in 
1699,  Governor  Nicholson  proposed  that  the  whole 
body  of  agricultural  servants  should  be  taught  to  bear 
arms,  the  House  of  Burgesses  returned  a  reply  which 
fully  explains  the  change  of  sentiment  that  had  taken 
place  on  this  point  since  the  middle  of  the  century: 
they  opposed  such  a  policy  on  two  grounds:  first,  it 
would  be  burdensome  to  the  large  and  small  planters 
alike,  but  above  all  to  the  small,  necessarily  the  poorest, 
to  have  their  servants, — their  main  dependance  for  a 
livelihood, — subject  to  every  summons  of  the  militia 
officers,  especially  if  issued  at  those  seasons  when  the 
tobacco  crop  required  the  greatest  attention  to  protect 
it  from  the  worms  and  weeds  in  the  field,  or  to  cure  it 
properly  in  the  barns ;  and  secondly,  the  arming  of  the 
white  servants  would  be  dangerous  to  the  community's 
safety,  as  they  included  among  their  number  many  of 
the  ' 'worst  people  of  Europe."  In  justification  of  this 
expression,   the  Burgesses  declared  that  very  many 

» British  Colonial  Papers,  vol.  xxx.,  No.  51. 


Persons  Liable  for  Service  7 

Irish  servants,  "soldiers  in  the  late  wars,"  had  been 
recently  transported  to  Virginia  to  work  in  the  planta- 
tions. The  incorrigible  rudeness  and  ferocity  of  these 
men  made  the  strongest  impression  on  all  classes  in  the 
Colony;  and  as  soon  as  they  were  added  to  the  sullen 
and  unruly  element  to  be  found  at  every  period  among 
the  servants,  it  was  justly  thought  to  be  only  common 
prudence  to  keep  all  weapons  of  attack  out  of  their 
hands.  The  Burgesses  closed  with  the  statement  that 
it  was  difficult  to  control  their  white  laborers  when 
unarmed ;  and  that,  if  they  were  armed  and  permitted 
to  attend  musters,  they  might  be  tempted  to  seek  to 
obtain  their  freedom  by  slaying  their  masters.  In  a 
war  with  a  foreign  foe,  the  Irish  especially  were  much 
more  likely  to  desert  to  the  enemy  than  to  assist  the 
colonists.1 

Whilst  the  second  reason  given  by  the  Burgesses  for 
opposing  Nicholson's  proposition  was  more  true  of 
one  period  than  of  another,  nevertheless  it  must  have 
carried  a  certain  force  throughout  the  century.  The 
larger  number  of  the  servants,  being  men  who  had 
voluntarily  bound  themselves  by  indentures  to  work 
for  their  masters,  during  a  definite  number  of  years, 
could  have  had  no  real  inducement  to  raise  their  hands 
against  the  landowners,  or  to  join  a  foreign  enemy;  but 
this  could  not  be  said  of  those  persons  who  had  been 
imported  into  the  Colony  as  common  or  political 
convicts;  the  fiercest  and  most  irreconcilable  of  these, 
having  nothing  of  good  fortune  to  look  forward  to, 
not  unnaturally  were  disposed  to  make  use  of  any  means 
or  opportunity  which  would  release  them  from  their 
galling  bondage.     There  was  perhaps  only  one  crisis 

>  Minutes  of  Council,  June  2,  1699.  B.  T.  Va.,  vol.  Hi. 


8  The  Military  System 

in  which,  so  far  as  a  foreign  foe  was  concerned,  all  ranks 
among  the  servants  might  have  been  safely  enlisted  in 
the  militia :  this  was  during  the  progress  of  an  Indian 
incursion.1  I  The  savages  were  not  inclined  to  discrim- 
inate between  the  different  classes  of  white  men,  but 
were  implacably  hostile  to  master  and  servant  alike, 
whether  the  latter  was  loyal  or  disloyal.  The  danger- 
ous convict  understood  this  fact  as  clearly  as  the  servant 
whose  term  was  drawing  to  a  close,  and  he,  therefore, 
knew  that  he  could  not  fly  to  those  wild  children  of 
the  forest  with  any  hope  that  it  would  assure  him  a  more 
tolerable  situation  in  life. J.  The  tomahawk  or  the  torch 
would  have  been  his  portion  even  though,  as  a  trans- 
ported Irishman,  he  regarded  the  English  with  a  hatred 
more  unquenchable  than  ever  burned  in  the  breast  of  a 
Monacan  or  a  Huron. 

There  were  among  the  freemen  of  the  proper  legal 
age  only  one  set  of  persons  claiming  exemption  from 
military  service;  these  were  the  Quakers,  who  based 
their  demand,  as  we  have  seen,  on  their  religious  tenets 
alone.  The  authorities,  however,  declined  to  yield  to 
it,  and  the  sect's  persistence  in  the  teeth  of  this  fact  was 
one  of  the  principal  reasons  for  the  persecution  to 
which  they  were  long  subjected;  for  it  was  felt  by  other 
sections  of  the  community  that  the  Quakers  were  seek- 
ing to  shirk  one  of  the  most  essential  duties  of  citizen- 
ship, and  that,  so  far  as  they  were  able  to  evade  it,  the 
safety  of  all  was  to  that  extent  jeoparded.  After  the 
passage  of  the  Toleration  Act,  they  were  relieved  of 
military  service  on  payment  of  a  fine;  but  it  was  not 

1  An  Act  of  Assembly  passed  in  1 644-5  expressly  allowed  servants 
to  be  enlisted  in  every  march  against  the  Indians;  see  Hening's 
Statutes,  vol.  i.,  p.  292.  A  terrible  massacre  by  the  Indians  had  only 
very  recently  occurred. 


Persons  Liable  for  Service  9 

long  before  they  were  raising  a  protest  even  against 
this.  John  Pleasants,  the  most  prominent  and  in- 
fluential member  of  the  sect  in  Virginia,  and  a  number 
of  other  persons  of  the  same  faith,  united,  in  1696,  in 
petitioning  the  House  of  Burgesses  to  revoke  the  fines 
which  they  had  been  condemned  to  pay  for  failing  to 
attend  musters  and  to  bear  arms  as  the  Act  required; 
and  they  complained  bitterly  of  the  hardships  this 
law  imposed  on  them.1 

The  method  of  ascertaining  the  number  of  persons 
residing  in  the  Colony  who  were  liable  to  perform  mili- 
tary service  was  substantially  the  same  throughout  the 
century.  As  early  as  1644, tne  lieutenant  of  each  county 
was  required  by  law  to  return  to  the  Governor  and 
Council,  on  the  first  of  every  June,  a  full  list  of  all  such 
persons2;  whilst  forty  years  later,  the  commanding 
colonel,  together  with  the  justices,  was  instructed  to 
report  the  number  of  inhabitants  qualified  in  estate  to 
provide  and  maintain  a  man  and  horse,  or  to  serve  as 
troopers  themselves;  and  also  the  number  who  could  be 
enlisted  in  the  ranks  as  footmen  or  infantry.3 

How  many  soldiers  were  the  authorities  able  to  raise 
in  an  emergency?  Berkeley,  in  167 1,  estimated  that, 
at  this  time,  eight  thousand  horse  at  least  might,  by 
extraordinary    exertions,    be    called    into    the    field.4 


1  Minutes  of  the  House  of  Burgesses,  Oct.  7,  1696,  B.  T.  Va.,vol. 
lii. 

2  Robinson  Transcripts,  p.  239. 

3  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1680-95,  p.  249.  In  1680,  Major-General 
Smith,  addressing  a  letter  to  the  commanding  colonel  of  each 
county  in  his  district,  ordered  him  to  send  to  Jamestown  a  list  of 
all  resident  housekeepers  and  freemen  able  to  bear  arms,  and  also 
a  list  of  each  company  and  troop  actually  organized.  See  letter 
of  General  Smithk  Nov.  20,  1680,  Colonial  Papers,  vol.  xlvi.,  No.  54. 

*  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  ii.,  p.  51. 


io  The  Military  System 

According  to  Chichely,  there  was,  during  the  following 
year,  in  the  Colony,  an  organized  militia  numbering 
twenty  regiments  of  foot  and  twenty  of  horse.1  In 
1 68 1,  Culpeper  reported  that  there  were  then  in 
Virginia  at  least  fifteen  thousand  fighting  men ;  but  he 
probably  included  the  agricultural  servants,  who,  as 
we  have  seen,  were  not  admitted  as  a  body  to  the  ranks 
of  the  trained  bands.2  The  actual  strength  of  the 
military  arm  of  all  the  counties  at  this  time  was  esti- 
mated at  seventy- two  hundred  and  sixty-eight  footmen 
and  thirteen  hundred  horse,  a  disciplined  force  reaching 
a  total  of  eighty- five  hundred  and  sixty  eight.3  A  few 
years  later,  however,  Howard  stated  that  the  number  of 
footmen  on  an  effective  military  basis  did  not  exceed 
three  thousand.4  At  the  close  of  the  century,  and  nearly 
twenty  years  after  Culpeper' s  report  was  made,  Bev- 
erley calculated  that  the  available  military  power  of 
Virginia,  as  represented  in  its  whole  population,  fell 
little  short  of  eighteen  thousand  men.5  But  the 
military  force  enlisted  in  the  militia  in  actual  service 
was  not  so  formidable;  it  embraced  forty  troops  of 


»  British  Colonial  Papers,  vol.  xxi.,  No.  li. 

2  Culpeper's  Report,  British  Colonial  Papers,  vol.  xlvii.,  No.  105. 

•  Letter  of  General  Smith  to  the  Virginia  Colonels,  Colonial  Entry 
Book,  vol.  xlvi.,  No.  54. 

*  B.  T.  Va.  Entry  Book,  vol.  xxxvi.  p.  1.  It  was  in  this  year 
that  Nicholas  Spencer  complained  that  "little  could  his  Excel- 
lency (Howard)  persuade  with  them  (the  Virginians)  so  to  form 
the  militia  as  in  time  of  danger  to  render  it  useful  for  the  defence 
of  the  country  against  our  old  Indian  enemies,  or  other  foreign 
enemies,  and  also  to  make  it  awful  to  unruly  home  spirits.  The 
easy  inclinations  of  some  (though  good)  men  was  so  wrought 
on  by  slight  insinuations  of  ill  humoured  spirits  that  neither  of  those 
so  necessary  laws  was  adopted";  British  Colonial  Papers,  vol.  lix., 
No.  58. 

s  Beverley's  History  of  Virginia,  p.  218. 


Persons  Liable  for  Service  n 

horse  and  eighty-three  companies  of  foot,  a  total 
of  eight  thousand,  two  hundred  and  ninety-nine 
soldiers.1 

Each  county  was  directed  to  keep  in  an  organized 
state  a  body  of  troops,  both  horse  and  foot,  or  either 
foot  or  horse,  in  proportion  to  the  number  of  its  in- 
habitants fitted  to  perform  military  service.  For 
instance,  in  1686,  when  the  House  of  Burgesses,  with 
great  energy,  sought  to  place  the  militia  under  the 
regulations  of  the  English  system,  it  was  provided 
that  the  counties  of  Henrico,  Charles  City,  James  City, 
Elizabeth  City,  Warwick,  York,  Surry,  Isle  of  Wight, 
Nansemond,  Lower  Norfolk,  Westmoreland,  and  North- 
umberland should  respectively  raise  one  troop  of  horse 
and  one  company  of  foot;  Middlesex, Stafford,  Accomac, 
and  Northampton,  each  one  troop  of  horse;  Lan- 
caster and  Rappahannock,  each  two;  whilst  New 
Kent  and  Gloucester  were  required  to  raise  respec- 
tively two  troops  of  horse  and  two  companies  of 
foot.2 

The  number  of  soldiers  whom  each  county  about  this 
time  could  furnish  is  indicated  by  the  reports  returned 
for  Middlesex  and  Lancaster:  in  1687,  there  were  in 
the  former,  fifty-one  persons  able  to  find  a  man, horse, 
and  arms,  and  eighty-seven  able  to  serve  as  footmen.3 
In  the  same  year,  there  were  in  Lancaster  two  hundred 


1  B.  T.  Va.  1697,  vol.  vi.,  p.  73.  In  1680,  there  were  about  sixty 
men  in  a  company  and  forty  men  in  a  troop  beside  the  officers;  see 
Letter  of  Major-General  Smith,  Nov.  20,  1680,  British  Colonial 
Papers,  vol.  xlvi.,  No.  54.  In  1691,  a  troop  was  required  not  to 
exceed  fifty  men  and  a  company  seventy;  Minutes  of  Council,  Brit- 
ish Colonial  Papers,  1680-95. 

*  Minutes  of  Assembly,  Nov.  3,  1686,  Colonial  Entry  Book, 
1682-95,  p.  252. 

3  Middlesex  County  Records,  Orders  Nov.  23,  Dec.  14,  1687. 


12  The  Military  System 

and  four  persons  fit  to  be  enrolled  in  the  latter  capacity1 ; 
whilst  in  Lower  Norfolk,  there  was  a  sufficient  number 
to  form  five  companies,  which,  in  the  proportion  of 
sixty  to  the  company,  represented  a  fighting  force  of 
three  hundred.2  Five  years  after  these  reports  were 
sent  in,  it  was  stated  that  all  the  white  men  inhabiting 
the  Colony,  except  those  required  to  "look  after  the 
stocks  at  home,"  were  engaged  in  performing  military 
duties.3 

Whilst  every  white  man,  not  a  servant,  who  had 
reached  the  legal  age  was,  unless  specially  exempted, 
forced  to  enter  the  militia,  yet  when  he  took  part  in  an 
expedition  designed  for  the  Colony's  defence,  which 
necessarily  exposed  him  to  danger,  and  for  a  period 
more  or  less  extended,  drew  him  away  from  his  regular 
employment,  it  was  thought  to  be  only  proper  that  he 
should  receive  some  compensation.  This  feeling,  how- 
ever, did  not  prevail  at  all  times.  In  1682,  not  long 
after  the  people  had  been  greatly  alarmed  by  the  immi- 
nent prospect  of  an  Indian  attack  from  the  north, 
Colonel  George  Lyddall  and  Captain  John  Foster 
petitioned  the  General  Assembly  for  an  appropriation 
in  the  public  levy  in  recognition  of  their  extraordinary 
services.  That  body,  instead  of  complying,  rebuked 
them  sharply  for  this  self-seeking  act.  ' ■  Militia  officers 
and  soldiers,"  they  declared  "ought,  in  case  of  sudden 
invasion,  inroad,  or  incursion  of  any  Indian  enemy  or 
others,  to  defend  their  counties  without  any  allowance 
from  the  public  for  the  same."4    At  this  hour,  the 

«  Lancaster  County  Records,  Orders  Nov.  29,  1687. 

*  Lower  Norfolk  County  Records,  Orders  Nov.  30,  1687. 

3  Memorial  about  the  College,  1692,  B.  T.  Va.,  1692,  No.  118. 

*  Minutes  of  Assembly,  April  10,  1682,  Colonial  Entry  Book, 
1682-95,  p.  140. 


Persons  Liable  for  Service  13 

General  Assembly  were  experiencing  a  sensation  of 
relief  over  the  final  dissipation  of  the  supposed  peril 
which  had  long  clouded  the  spirits  of  the  people,  and 
as  this  feeling  was  shared  by  all,  they  thought  that  it 
should  be  accepted  as  a  sufficient  reward  for  whatever 
service  any  citizen  may  have  performed  at  a  moment 
deemed  so  critical.  Other  General  Assemblies,  how- 
ever, did  not  always  take  this  view;  and  it  was  natural 
that  they  should  not,  unless  the  safety  of  the  whole 
country  was  in  jeopardy,  at  which  time  it  seemed  to  be 
dictated  by  the  law  of  self-preservation  that  every  man 
who  could  shoulder  a  gun  should  spring  to  the  protec- 
tion of  the  Colony  regardless  of  personal  loss  or  hope  of 
remuneration. 

The  House  of  Burgesses  undertook,  in  1686,  to  re- 
organize the  militia  according  to  the  English  system, 
and  among  the  most  important  provisions  which  they 
discussed  were  those  relating  to  the  remuneration  of 
persons  employed  in  military  service.  It  seems  to 
have  been  finally  agreed  that  every  trooper  actively 
engaged  in  performing  military  duties  should  receive 
fifteen  pounds  of  tobacco,  or  one  shilling  and  sixpence, 
per  diem,  whilst  the  footman  was  to  receive  ten  pounds 
of  tobacco,  or  one  shilling  for  the  same  length  of  time. 
One  hundred  pounds  of  that  commodity  was  to  be  paid 
per  diem  to  the  captain  of  a  troop  of  horse,  sixty  to  the 
lieutenant,  fifty  to  the  cornet,  and  thirty  to  the  corporal ; 
and  the  stipend  of  the  corresponding  officers  in  the 
companies  of  foot  was,  in  each  instance,  to  be  just  ten 
pounds  less.1  These  wages,  which  were  to  change  only 
with  the  advancing  or  declining  price  of  tobacco  were  to 
be  raised  by  an  assessment  in  the  regular  levy ;  and  each 

•  Minutes  of  Assembly,  Nov.  3,  1686,  Colonial  Entry  Book, 
1682-95,  PP-  252,  350. 


14  The  Military  System 

county  was  to  be  liable  for  the  amounts  due  the  officers 
and  soldiers  furnished  by  itself.1 

1  B.  T.  Va.,  1692,  No.  118;  Minutes  of  Assembly,  British  Colonial 
Papers,  1 682-9  5,  p.  3  50.  By  the  provisions  of  a  law  passed  in  March, 
1675^-6,  a  footman  assigned  to  garrison  duty  on  the  frontiers 
was  paid  at  the  rate  of  1500  lbs.  of  tobacco  per  annum,  and  a 
horseman  at  the  rate  of  2000;  a  captain  was  paid  600  lbs.  per 
month,  a  lieutenant,  400,  an  ensign,  300,  a  sergeant,  250;  and  a 
corporal,  150;  see  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  ii.,  p.  333.  These  wages 
were  for  terms  of  service  lasting  only  a  few  months.  By  a  later 
Act,  a  horseman  was  allowed  2250  lbs.  per  annum;  see  Hening's 
Statutes,  vol.  ii.,  p.  341.  In  1679  the  wage  of  a  member  of  the 
garrison  designed  for  each  of  the  four  forts  recently  ordered  to  be 
built  was  to  be  200  lbs.  of  tobacco  per  month  for  the  private  sol- 
dier, 1200  for  the  captain,  850  for  the  lieutenant,  600  for  the  cornet, 
and  850  for  the  surgeon ;  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  ii.,  pp.  433-40. 


CHAPTER  II 
General  Regulations :  The  Officers 

DURING  the  Colony's  early  history,  the  military 
supervision  of  each  Hundred  seems  to  have 
been  imposed  on  an  officer  known  as  the  com- 
mander.1 An  Act  of  Assembly  passed  in  1623-4 
charged  him  with  the  special'  task  of  supplying  every 
settlement  within  the  area  of  country  subject  to  his 
oversight,  with  a  sufficient  quantity  of  powder  and 
shot  and  other  ammunition;  and  he  was  also  required 
to  see  that  the  arms  were  kept  complete,  and  the  guns 
fixed  and  ready  for  use  on  the  shortest  notice.2  As  the 
bounds  of  the  cultivated  plantations  had,  by  1624, 
spread  out  widely,  and  as  there  was  a  prospect  that  the 
size  of  the  population  would  now  rapidly  increase,  it 
was  considered  advisable   to  choose  lieutenant-com- 

1  Brown's  First  Republic,  p.  257.  There  seems  to  have  been,  at 
an  early  date,  an  officer  known  simply  as  "the  marshall. "  Ap- 
parently, Capt.  William  Newce  was  the  first  to  fill  this  place.  In 
1 62 1,  he  petitioned  for  the  appointment  "because  he  had  ever  been 
exercised  in  military  affairs."  He  admitted,  however,  that  there 
was  no  present  need  for  such  an  officer  "owing  to  the  perpetual 
league  lately  made  with  the  Indian  King. "  The  marshal  was  ex- 
pected to  care  for  the  fortifications,  the  arms,  and  the  troops  of  the 
Colony;  see  Abstracts  of  Proceedings  of  Va.  Co.  of  London,  vol.  i., 
pp.  in,  119.  In  1 63 1,  Walter  Neale,  who  was  at  the  time  in  Eng- 
land, petitioned  for  the  office.  It  would  seem  that  it  had  been  in 
abeyance  for  many  years.  British  Colonial  Papers,  vol.  vi.,  1631- 
33,  No.  24. 

'  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  i.,  p.  127. 

IS 


1 6  The  Military  System 

manders  to  assist  the  commanders  in  the  performance  of 
their  duties,  upon  which  the  Colony's  safety  was  so 
vitally  dependent.  In  the  course  of  that  year,  Thomas 
Flint  was,  by  Governor  Yeardley,  nominated  as  the 
lieutenant-commander  of  all  the  plantations  lying  on 
both  sides  of  the  Southampton  River,  where  William 
Tucker  was,  at  this  time,  the  commander-in-chief.1 
Doubtless  other  appointments  were  made. 

The  different  commanders  in  1626  were  ordered  to  see 
that  every  dwelling  house  was  fully  protected  against 
an  Indian  attack  by  a  stout  palisade.  If  any  one 
refused  to  take  part  in  the  work  of  construction,  then 
some  one  was  to  be  hired  at  his  expense  to  do  his  share 
in  his  stead.2  In  the  following  year,  as  an  additional 
means  of  increasing  the  security  of  the  different  settle- 
ments, the  commander  was  directed  to  require  every 
person  capable  of  bearing  arms  to  remain  on  the 
plantation  belonging  to  him,  or  to  which  he  was  at- 
tached in  any  character;  and  should  he  absent  himself, 
without  that  officer's  permission,  for  an  interval  ex- 
ceeding eight  days,  he  was  to  be  compelled  to  pay  a 
fine  of  twenty- five  pounds  of  tobacco  for  every  twenty- 
four  hours  he  remained  away  beyond  that  length  of 
time.  Such  a  regulation  as  this, — which  recalled  the 
strict  military  code  of  Dale, — was  perhaps  intended 
only  for  a  brief  period  when  there  was  an  urgent 
necessity  for  extraordinary  precautions  in  order  to 
disconcert  the  supposed  designs  of  the  wily  Indian  foe. 
As  hardly  five  years  had  passed  since  the  frightful 
massacre  of  1622  had  occurred,  the  memory  of  that 
sanguinary  event  was  still  fresh  in  the  memory  of  every 
one  of  the  colonists.     It  was  this  fact  which  made  the 

1  Robinson  Transcripts,  p.  190. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  54. 


General  Regulations  :  The  Officers       17 

ordinance  requiring  every  citizen's  practical  confine- 
ment to  one  place  appear  a  proper  one  in  spite  of  the  in- 
convenience it  must  have  often  occasioned. x  For  many- 
years,  it  was  felt  that  no  scheme  suggested  by  a  wise 
foresight  could  be  too  onerous  or  too  exacting.  In 
anticipation  of  a  sudden  Indian  incursion,  every  com- 
mander was  impowered  to  levy,  of  his  own  motion,  in 
the  area  of  country  under  his  supervision  such  a  force 
as  would  be  sufficient  to  repel  an  attack  of  this  kind2 ; 
and  this  force  was  the  more  easily  and  quickly  raised 
in  consequence  of  the  rigid  restrictions  set  upon  the 
movements  of  those  who  constituted  the  militia. 

The  terms  of  the  commission  issued  to  a  commander 
in  1630  throw  light,  in  a  general  way,  on  the  duties 
which  he  was  required  to  perform  at  that  time, — he  was 
to  "command  and  govern  the  several  plantations  and 
inhabitants"  belonging  to  the  area  of  country  under 
his  special  charge,  an  expression  interpreted  as  meaning 
that  he  was  to  conserve  the  peace,  and  also  to  execute 
the  orders  received  by  him  from  the  higher  authorities. 
Above  all,  he  was  expected  to  show  the  utmost  vigilance 
in  discovering  the  plots  and  schemes  concocted  by  the 
Indians  against  the  English,  and  the  most  unwearied 
energy  in  preventing  the  terrible  mischiefs  certain  to 
follow,  should  these  plots  and  schemes  remain  uncircum- 
vented.3  At  a  later  date,  the  commander  acted  as  the 
chief  commissioner  of  health  for  his  district.4     But, 

•  Robinson  Transcripts,  p.  65. 

2  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  i.,  p.  148.  This  was  in  1629.  In  1628, 
the  commanders  seem  to  have  acted  also  as  general  conservators 
of  the  peace;  see  Randolph  MS.,  vol.  iii.,  p.  211. 

3  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  i.,  p.  131. 

4  See  a  curious  proclamation  by  the  "Colonel  and  Commander" 
of  Northampton,  1667,  in  which,  after  a  statement  that  many- 
persons  were  suffering  from  smallpox  in  the  county  at  this  time, 

vol.  11. — 2 


1 8  The  Military  System 

from  some  points  of  view,  the  duty  of  most  dignity  and 
responsibility  performed  by  him  was  performed  as  the 
head  of  the  bench  of  justices  for  that  district;  all  the 
orders  of  this  court  were  originally  drawn  in  the 
name  of  the  "Commander  and  the  Commissioners"; 
and  this  continued  to  be  the  case  for  many  years 
after  the  formation  of  the  system  of  counties. 

As  soon  as  the  shire  system  was  established,  a  com- 
mander was  appointed  for  each  of  the  counties.  His 
importance  seems  to  have  been  increased,  and  not 
diminished,  by  the  contraction  of  his  territory;  and  he 
is  found  engaged  in  performing  an  even  greater  variety 
of  duties  than  before.  In  1641,  for  instance,  when,  un- 
der the  provisions  of  an  Act  of  Assembly,  stores  had  to 
be  erected  to  receive  all  the  tobacco  of  the  Colony  pre- 
vious to  its  being  paid  out  or  shipped  abroad,  the  com- 
mander of  each  county  was  enjoined  by  proclamation 
to  see  that  the  proper  ones  were  built  within  the  bounds 
subject  to  his  super  vision.1  It  was  incumbent  on  him, 
not  only  to  require  the  people  to  attend  the  religious 
services  held  on  Sundays  and  holidays,  but  also,  in 
special  cases,  to  superintend  the  construction  of  a  new 
church ;  or  at  least  to  see  that  it  was  completed.  It  was 
in  harmony  with  this,  that,  in  164 1,  the  building  of  such 
an  edifice  at  Sewell's  Point  was  confided  to  the  general 

warning  is  given  to  all  families  affected  to  allow  no  member  "to 
go  forth  their  doors  until  their  full  cleansing,  that  is  to  say,  thirtie 
dayes  after  their  receiving  the  sd  smallpox,  least  the  sd  disease 
shoulde  spreade  by  infection  like  the  plague  of  leprosy  .  .  .  such 
as  shall  no-things  notice  of  this  premonition  and  charge, .  but 
beastlike  shall  p'sume  to  act  and  doe  contrarily,  may  expect  to  be 
severely  punished  according  to  the  Statute  of  King  James  in  such 
case  provided  for  their  contempt  herein;  God  save  the  King." 
Northampton  County  Records,  vol.  1655-58,  last  part,  folio  p. 
19.  This  volume  is  improperly  marked ;  see  Orders  January  7,  1667. 
1  Accomac  County  Records,  vol.  1640-45,  p.  85,  Va.  St.  Libr. 


General  Regulations  :  The  Officers      19 

charge  of  the  commander  of  Lower  Norfolk.1  It  was 
his  duty  also  to  see  to  the  enforcement  of  all  the  laws 
relating  to  tobacco  culture.  Apparently,  too,  he  re- 
ported to  the  Governor  and  Council  the  name  of  every 
person  who  had  just  arrived  in  the  Colony  and  settled 
in  his  county ;  and  he  seems  also  to  have  taken  an  annual 
census  of  those  of  its  inhabitants  who  were  fitted  for 
military  duty.  In  1642-3,  the  commanders  were  made 
the  principal  custodians  of  the  public  powder  which,  in 
the  course  of  that  year,  was  distributed  in  barrels 
among  the  different  counties.2  About  this  time,  each 
of  these  important  officers  received  an  annual  salary  of 
six  thousand  pounds  of  tobacco,  a  remuneration  in 
proportion  to  the  heavy  and  varied  responsibilities  of 
the  position.3 

Whenever  a  commander  was  compelled  to  absent 
himself  from  the  Colony  for  a  considerable  length  of 
time,  the  rule  previous  to  the  middle  of  the  century  was 
for  him  to  recommend  to  the  Governor  and  Council 
some  temporary  substitute  well  fitted  by  ability  and 
experience  to  fill  the  place.  When,  in  1641,  Captain 
John  Upton,  of  Isle  of  Wight,  was  about  to  set  sail  for 
England,  he  requested  the  nomination  to  the  office  of 
commander  of  that  county,  then  occupied  by  himself, 
of  Joseph  Salmon,  who  was  to  hold  it  until  Upton  re- 
turned to  Virginia.  And  Salmon  was  promptly  ap- 
pointed to  the  vacancy.4 

At  this  time,  the  commander  was  impowered  to  choose 
all  the  military  officers  who  were  to  be  subordinate  to 
himself ;  but  before  his  nominations  could  become  final, 

1  Lower  Norfolk  County  Records,  Orders  May  2,  1641. 

2  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  i.,  p.  277. 

3  Ibid.,  p.  294. 

*  Robinson  Transcripts,  p.  25. 


20  The  Military  System 

they  had  to  receive  the  approval  of  the  Governor  in  his 
capacity  as  the  head  of  the  Colony's  military  system.1 
These  officers,  in  1645,  consisted  of  a  lieutenant  for 
the  whole  county,  and  of  a  deputy  lieutenant  for  each 
of  the  precincts  into  which  it  was  divided.2  A  few  years 
later,  during  the  existence  of  the  Commonwealth, 
important  modifications  were  made  in  the  general 
military  administration  of  the  different  counties;  and 
this  extended  to  the  appointment  of  the  junior  officers. 
For  instance,  in  1652,  Colonel  Francis  Yeardley, 
Lieutenant-Colonel  Cornelius  Lloyd,  and  Major  Thomas 
Lambert,  members  of  the  bench  in  Lower  Norfolk, 
together  with  Christopher  Burroughs,  another  member, 
were,  in  very  critical  periods,  authorized  by  Act  of 
Assembly  to  choose  all  such  officers;  they  were  required, 
in  addition,  to  see  that  the  soldiers  were  drilled,  and 
that  their  guns  were  properly  fixed;  but  above  all,  they 
were  required  to  call  the  people  to  arms  in  an  emergency, 
whether  it  was  to  repel  an  Indian  incursion,  or  to  resist 
a  foreign  invasion.  They  were  also  instructed  to 
retain  in  their  custody  the  supplies  of  public  powder. 
They  alone  were  impowered  to  carry  out  the  military 
orders  of  the  General  Assembly  as  well  as  of  the  Gov- 
ernor and  Council.3  The  same  system  was  at  this  time 
in  operation  in  all  the  counties.     The  group  of  men  who 

1  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  i.,  p.  294. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  300.  Northampton,  by  order  of  the  county  court,  in 
1644,  was  divided  into  ten  districts,  and  a  justice  of  that  court 
placed  at  the  head  of  the  military  organization  for  each  district ;  see 
Records,  Orders  April  30,  1644.  The  officers  appointed  in  1651  for 
these  different  districts  were  chosen  by  Nathaniel  Littleton,  a 
member  of  the  Council,  under  the  authority  granted  by  his  com- 
mission. Each  enjoyed  the  rank  and  title  of  captain;  one  major 
was  also  named;  Records,  vol.  1651-54,  p.  47. 

3  Lower  Norfolk  County  Records,  vol.  1651-56,  p.  22.  In  1680, 
similar  instructions  were  given  by  Major-General  Smith  to  all  the 


General  Regulations:  The  Officers      21 

in  each  exercised  military  control  were  designated  as 
the  ''commissioners  of  militia."  The  four  commissioners 
were  nominated  simultaneously  with  the  justices  of  the 
county  court ;  and  not  only  were  they  members  of  that 
court,  but  three  of  them  at  least  were  always  members 
of  the  quorum.1  The  General  Assembly  reserved  to 
itself  the  right  to  suspend  a  commissioner  at  any  hour, 
and  to  name  another  justice  in  his  place.2  During  the 
whole  of  this  interval,  a  major-general,  appointed  by 
that  body,  was  in  charge  of  the  Colony's  military  admin- 
istration. This  office,  in  1659-60,  was  filled  by  Colonel 
Mainwaring  Hammond,  who  had  won  distinction  in 
the  English  civil  wars.3 

After  the  restoration  of  the  royal  authority  in 
Virginia,  the  Colony  was  divided  into  four  military 
districts.  The  first,  Jamestown  being  its  centre,  was 
placed  in  Berkeley's  immediate  charge,  while  each  of 
the  other  three  was  under  the  direct  control  of  a  major- 
general,  the  most  prominent  of  whom  was  Richard 
Bennett,  an  occupant  of  the  post  of  Governor  during 
the  period  of  the  Commonwealth.  Each  major-general 
was  assisted  by  two  adjutants.  In  every  one  of  the 
counties  composing  a  district,  there  was  a  regiment  of 
foot  commanded  by  a  colonel  and  a  group  of  subordi- 
nate officers;  and  in  some,  there  was  also  a  troop  of 
horse,  commanded  by  a  captain,  lieutenant,  and 
ensign.     Whenever  the  various  troops  of  horse  were 

colonels  under  his  command;  see  Letter,  Nov.  20,  1680,  British 
Colonial  Papers,  vol.  xlvi.,  No.  54. 

1  In  1653,  the  commissioners  of  militia  for  Westmoreland  county- 
were  Col.  Thomas  Speke,  Lieut. -Col.  Nathaniel  Pope,  Major  John 
Hallows,  Capts.  Thomas  Blagg  and  Alex.  Burnham;  see  Records, 
Orders  April  4,  1655. 

2  Randolph  MS.,  vol.  iii.,  p.  270. 

3  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  i.,  p.  545. 


22  The  Military  System 

drawn  together  so  as  to  form  a  large  body  of  cavalry, 
they  were  placed  under  the  command  of  a  single  superior 
officer,  to  whose  orders  alone  the  different  captains  and 
their  subordinates  were  subject. 1  The  system  of  militia 
commissioners  prevailing  in  the  time  of  the  Protectorate 
was  still  in  operation  as  late  as  1672;  during  this  year, 
Lemuel  Mason,  the  first  of  the  quorum  for  Lower 
Norfolk,  requested  Governor  Berkeley  to  appoint  to  the 
board  for  that  county  certain  members  of  its  bench  of 
justices,  whose  names  he  mentioned;  and  following 
what  was,  no  doubt,  the  usual  course,  Berkeley  promptly 
complied  with  his  petition.2 

Apparently,  this  system  was  not  proving  entirely 
satisfactory  when  Howard's  term  as  Governor  began; 
or  at  least  he  thought  it  to  his  interest  to  represent 
it  in  that  light;  for  in  1687,  he  wrote  to  the  English 
authorities  that  he  had  succeeded  in  imparting  to  the 
system  greater  method  by  appointing  the  members 
of  the  Council  to  the  positions  of  local  commanders- 
in-chief.  As  the  number  of  members  was  too  small  to 
supply  a  separate  officer  of  this  rank  for  each  county, 
it  is  probable  that,  after  this  change  went  into  effect, 
the  same  Councillor  acted  as  colonel  for  the  whole 
group  of  counties  for  which  he  served  as  collector  of 
customs;  this  was  rendered  the  more  practicable  by 
the  fact  that  after,  if  not  before,  1691,  there  was  a 
deputy  commander  or  lieut. -colonel  nominated  for 
each  county,  who,  no  doubt,  performed  all  the  duties 

»  Ludwell  to  Arlington,  1666,  Winder  Papers,  vol.  i.,  p.  206; 
British  Colonial  Papers,  vol.  xx.,  No.  125,  125  I.  In  1680,  Col. 
Joseph  Bridger  was  the  commander  of  the  horse  belonging  to 
Isle  of  Wight,  Surry,  Nansemond,  and  Lower  Norfolk  counties, 
and  Colonel  Richard  Lee,  of  the  horse  belonging  to  Westmoreland, 
Northumberland,  and  Stafford. 

2  Lower  Norfolk  County  Records,  vol.  1666-75,  p.  13 12. 


General  Regulations  :  The  Officers       23 

discharged  by  the  commander  or  colonel  when  each 
county  possessed  one  such  officer  of  its  own.  The 
plan  was  for  the  Councillor,  serving  as  commander- 
in-chief  for  a  group  of  counties,  to  receive  orders  from 
the  Governor  and  to  transmit  them  to  each  of  the 
deputy-commanders  or  lieut. -colonels  residing  in  a 
different  county.  The  deputy  commander,  however, 
was  authorized  to  raise  troops  of  his  own  motion  in 
the  emergency  of  a  sudden  invasion,  whether  Indian 
or  foreign;  and  he  was  only  required  to  send  in  after- 
wards a  report  of  his  proceedings;  which  he  could  do 
either  to  the  Governor,  or  the  Commander-in-chief 
of  the  group  of  counties  embracing  his  own.1 

A  list  of  military  officers  for  each  county  in  1680, 
which  has  been  preserved,  shows  the  gradations  in 
rank  prevailing  at  that  time.  In  Henrico,  the  militia, 
consisting  of  foot,  were  commanded  by  a  colonel,  lieut. - 
colonel,  a  major,  and  a  captain.  Besides  the  first  three 
of  these  officers,  there  were  in  Charles  City  three  cap- 
tains, and  also  a  lieut. -colonel  and  captain  of  horse. 
In  James  City,  there  were  a  colonel,  major,  and  two 
captains  of  foot,  and  one  captain  of  horse;  in  Isle  of 
Wight,  a  colonel  and  major  of  horse,  and  a  colonel, 
lieut. -colonel,  major,  and  captain  of  foot;  in  Surry 
and  Lower  Norfolk  respectively,  a  colonel,  major,  and 
captain  of  foot,  and  also  a  captain  of  horse ;  in  Nanse- 
mond,  a  colonel,  lieut. -colonel,  two  captains  of  foot 
and  also  one  of  horse;  in  Elizabeth  City,  a  colonel 
and  major  of  foot  and  a  captain  of  horse ;  in  New  Kent, 
a  colonel,  lieut. -colonel,  major,  and  two  captains  of  foot 

»  B.  T.  Va.,  Entry  Book,  vol.  xxxvi.,  p.  i ;  Orders  of  Council, 
May  18,  1 69 1,  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1680-91.  The  commander- 
in-chief  was  simply  a  colonel,  and  the  deputy-commander,  a  lieut.- 
colonel. 


24  The  Military  System 

and  two  captains  of  horse;  in  York,  a  colonel,  major, 
and  two  captains  of  foot;  in  Gloucester,  for  foot  and 
horse  respectively,  a  colonel,  lieut. -colonel,  major,  and 
captain;  in  Rappahannock,  a  colonel,  lieut. -colonel, 
major,  and  two  captains  of  foot,  and  a  colonel  and 
captain  of  horse;  in  Middlesex  a  colonel,  lieut. -colonel, 
and  major  of  foot,  and  also  a  captain  of  horse;  in 
Lancaster,  a  colonel,  lieut. -colonel,  major,  and  captain 
of  foot. 

This  list  embraces  the  great  majority  of  the  counties 
into  which  Virginia  was  divided  at  this  time;  and  it 
shows  for  each,  with  very  few  exceptions,  a  full  com- 
plement of  military  officers. 

The  men  who  bore  these  military  titles  were  the 
foremost  "in  all  the  various  departments  of  action  rep- 
resented in  the  Colony.  The  list  of  colonels  or  com- 
manders-in-chief included  such  influential  members 
of  the  community  at  large  as  the  elder  William  Byrd, 
of  Henrico  county;  Edward  Hill,  of  Charles  City; 
Thomas  Ballard,  o"f  James  City;  Joseph  Bridger,  of 
Isle  of  Wight;  Thomas  Swann,  of  Surry;  John  Lear, 
of  Nansemond;  Lemuel  Mason,  of  Lower  Norfolk; 
Charles  Morryson,  of  Elizabeth  City;  John  West,  of 
New  Kent;  John  Page,  of  York;  Augustine  Warner, 
of  Gloucester;  John  Stone,  of  Rappahannock;  Chris- 
topher Wormeley,  of  Middlesex;  William  Ball,  of 
Lancaster;  and  William  Pierce,  of  Westmoreland. 
Among  the  deputy-commanders  or  the  lieut. -colonels 
were  such  prominent  citizens  as  John  Farrar,  Daniel 
Clark,  John  Pitt,  William  Browne,  John  Milner,  Robert 
Bray,  John  Lyddall,  Lawrence  Smith,  William  Lloyd, 
John  Burnham,  John  Carter,  Isaac  Allerton,  William 
Waters,  and  Cadwalader  Jones.  The  list  of  majors 
included  leading  men  like  Thomas  Chamberlaine,  John 


General  Regulations  :  The  Officers      25 

Mottrom,  William  Spencer,  Charles  Scarborough,  John 
Stith,  Thomas  Taverner,  Samuel  Swann,  Anthony 
Lawson,  Otho  Thorpe,  Francis  Burwell,  Robert  Bever- 
ley, Edward  Dale,  and  Thomas  Ye  well;  among  the 
captains  were  Hancock  Lee,  William  Custis,  Edmund 
Scarborough,  William  Randolph,  John  Goodridge, 
Thomas  Goodwyn,  Adam  Keeling,  Francis  Page, 
Richard  Booker,  and  Leroy  Griffin.1 

The  list  of  officers  serving  in  the  militia  in  still 
another  year  shows  that  the  very  best  talents  which  the 
Colony  could  furnish  were  employed  for  the  country's 
defence  at  that  time  also.  Among  the  colonels  or  com- 
manders-in-chief for  the  different  counties  were  the 
elder  William  Byrd,  Edward  Hill,  Benjamin  Harrison, 
Miles  Cary,  Philip  Ludwell,  Edmund  Jennings,  Mathew 
Page,  Ralph  Wormeley,  Robert  Carter,  Richard  Lee, 
George  Mason,  Charles  Scarborough,  and  John  Custis, 
all  men  of  wealth  and  great  social  and  political  influence. 
Among  the  deputy  commanders  or  lieut.  -colonels  were 
William  Randolph,  Thomas  Ballard,  Mathew  Kemp, 
William  Moseley,  Joseph  Ball,  Willoughby  Allerton, 
and  Nathaniel  Littleton, — men  hardly  less  conspicuous 
in  the  community  at  large  than  the  superior  officers  al- 
ready named.  And  equally  distinguished  were  many 
of  those  occupying  the  rank  of  major ;  such,  for  instance, 
as  Thomas  Swann,  John  Thoroughgood,  Anthony 
Armistead,  William  Bassett,  Peter  Beverley,  Rodham 
Kenner,  Thomas  Lloyd,  Edmund  Scarborough,  and 
William  Waters.2 


•  List  of  Civil  and  Military  Officers,  1 680,  British  Colonial  Papers, 
vol.  xlvi.,  No.  81. 

2  Minutes  of  Council,  B.  T.  Va.,  vol.  liii.  The  following  contains 
a  full  list  of  the  officers  of  a  New  Kent  troop  (1 699-1 700) :  William 
Bassett,  colonel  and  lieut. -colonel;  Francis  Burwell, lieutenant  and 


26  The  Military  System 

The  prominence  of  the  citizens  filling  the  different 
military  positions  was  not  characteristic  of  these  two 
years  alone, — it  will  be  found  to  have  distinguished 
all  the  men  occupying  the  same  grades  during  every 
period  of  the  Seventeenth  century.  The  reason  for 
this  is  quite  plain, — serving  as  officers  in  the  militia 
did  not  simply  create  an  opportunity  for  personal 
display  on  occasions  when  an  entire  county's  inhabi- 
tants were  present  to  take  part  in  the  muster  drill; 
it  meant  far  more  even  than  the  gratification  of  a  taste 
for  military  exercises,  for,  in  the  end,  every  officer  was 
certain  to  have  an  experience  of  actual  warfare  in 
some  of  its  harshest  forms, — long  and  fatiguing  marches 
in  all  kinds  of  trying  weather,  through  thick  forests 
and  over  swollen  streams;  an  increasing  vigilance  by 
night  and  day  to  avoid  the  ambuscades  of  the  wily 
savages;  and  finally,  perhaps  a  desperate  battle  from 
behind  boulders,  logs,  and  trees.  It  was  not  merely  to 
a  parade  or  a  promenade  that  the  officers  of  the  militia 
had  to  look  forward,  but  to  the  dangers  and  perils 
springing  from  the  presence  of  a  cunning  and  impla- 
cable foe,  to  be  circumvented  only  by  the  coolest 
bravery,  and  by  the  most  thoughtful  prudence.  The 
most  ordinary  foresight,  therefore,  dictated  that, 
when  the  appointment  of  these  officers  was  to  be  made, 
the  most  capable  men  whom  each  county  could  furnish 
should  be  chosen,  if  for  no  other  reason,  to  strengthen 
the  confidence  of  the  common  soldiers  when  the  hour 


major;  Nicholas  Meriwether,  cornet  and  captain;  John  King, 
guidon  and  captain;  Henry  Chiles,  quartermaster  and  lieutenant; 
William  Harman,  John  Breeding,  and  David  Anderson,  brigadiers 
and  lieutenants;  Richard  Allen,  William  Lacey,  and  John  Parkes, 
Jr.,  sub-brigadiers  and  cornets.  These  names  represented  the  fore- 
most families  in  this  county;  B.  T.  Va.,  vol.  viii.,  Doct.  53. 


General  Regulations  :  The  Officers       2  7 

for  fighting  arrived.  The  prospect  of  personal  peril 
must  in  itself  have  been  a  powerful  inducement  to  the 
younger  members  of  the  principal  families  to  seek 
a  position  higher  than  that  of  the  file;  should  war 
break  out  with  the  Indians,  it  was  the  officer  who  would 
occupy  the  chief  post  of  danger,  and  it  was  also  the 
officer  who  would  enjoy  the  best  chance  of  winning 
distinction, — a  combination  that  has  always  appealed 
irresistibly  to  the  minds  of  those  who  have  in  their 
natures  the  promptings  of  ambition  and  a  thirst  for 
adventure.  The  general  uneventfulness  of  the  plan- 
tation life  very  probably  caused  these  men  to  relish 
the  more  the  different  excitements  always  experienced 
by  the  officers  called  out  to  repel  an  Indian  attack, 
so  often  so  suddenly  precipitated  against  the  outlying 
settlements.  The  appalling  features  of  warfare  with 
a  foe  regardless  of  all  the  amenities  of  civilized  combat 
must  also  have  had  its  effect  in  stimulating  that  patri- 
otic feeling  which  was  no  small  factor  among  the  motives 
causing  the  foremost  citizens  to  apply  for  positions  of 
command  in  the  militia.  And  appointment  to  such 
a  position  as  involving  the  defence  of  every  fireside, 
tended  also  to  enhance  that  general  influence  in  the 
community  at  large  already  enjoyed  by  the  man 
filling  it. 

Throughout  the  Seventeenth  century,  the  com- 
mander-in-chief or  lieutenant-general  of  the  whole 
Colony  was  the  Governor,  as  the  representative  of 
the  King.  To  him,  even  the  different  major-generals 
appointed  from  time  to  time  were  subordinate.  The 
Governor,  or  as  he  was  then  known,  the  President  of 
the  Council,  was,  by  the  instructions  given  at  the 
Colony's  foundation,  impowered  to  exercise  military 
control   over   all  the   captains  and  soldiers  stationed 


28  The  Military  System 

there1;  and  these  instructions  were  repeated  whenever 
a  new  Governor  was  appointed,  whether  it  was  during 
the  time  of  the  Company's  administration  or  the 
Crown's.  Howard's  commission,  granted  in  1685, 
authorized  him  expressly,  first,  to  levy  and  arm  all 
the  inhabitants  subject  to  military  duty  and  to  trans- 
fer them,  as  he  thought  advisable,  from  place  to  place; 
secondly,  to  execute  martial  law  in  time  of  war;  and 
thirdly,  with  the  Council's  advice  and  consent,  to 
build  forts  and  erect  fortifications,  and  provide  both 
with  the  necessary  ordnance.2 

As  commander-in-chief  of  the  whole  Colony,  the 
Governor  attended  the  different  musters,  made  tours 
of  inspection,  and  reviewed  the  companies  of  rangers 
stationed  at  the  heads  of  the  rivers.  In  the  same 
character,  he  settled  all  disputes  arising  among  the 
officers  of  the  militia,  and  decided  all  questions  specially 
affecting  the  usefulness  of  the  service.  No  Governor 
was  more  active  and  indefatigable  in  performing  the 
military  duties  of  his  position  than  Nicholson,  a  man 
who  never  failed  to  encourage  whatever  was  calculated 
to  protect  as  well  as  to  advance  the  Colony's  interests.3 
He  was  constantly  visiting  the  different  parts  of  Vir- 
ginia in  order  to  strengthen  the  military  arm;  in  one 

1  Orders  of  Council,  1606,  Brown's  Genesis  of  the  United  States, 
vol.  i.,  p.  77. 

2  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1685-90,  pp.  11,  12. 

3  Minutes  of  Council,  Aug.  24,  1692,  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1680- 
95.  Nicholson  was  interested  in  the  musters  from  a  social  as  well 
as  from  a  military  point  of  view,  for  he  said  that  "they  tended 
to  divert  the  people  from  melancholy  thoughts,"  B.  T.  Va.,  1692, 
Colonial  Entry  Book,  1680-95.  In  1699,  we  find  him  reconciling 
the  differences  which  had  disorganized  the  militia  of  New  Kent; 
he  ordered  a  general  muster  to  be  held  at  the  court-house  on  Nov. 
14th,  and  promised  himself  to  be  present;  Minutes  of  Council,  Oct. 
26,  1699,  B.  T.  Va.,  vol.  liii. 


General  Regulations :  The  Officers       29 

of  these  tours,  he  reviewed  the  militia  of  Elizabeth 
City,  Warwick,  Accomac,  and  Northampton  counties. 
Andros  too  was  not  slow  in  imitating  so  zealous 
an  example;  not  long  after  his  arrival  at  Jamestown 
to  assume  the  duties  of  the  Governorship,  he  made  a 
journey  to  several  divisions  of  the  Colony  in  order  to 
form,  by  personal  inspection,  an  accurate  conception 
of  its  military  needs.1 

The  Governor  and  Council  often  sat  as  a  council  of 
war,  and  their  decisions  in  that  character  very  fre- 
quently had  consequences  of  the  highest  importance.2 

i  B.  T.  Va.,  1692,  No.  123. 

2  Robinson  Transcripts,  p.  241. 


CHAPTER  III 
General  Regulations :  Arms  and  Ammunition 

WHAT  were  the  arms  and  ammunition  used  by 
the  militia  of  Virginia  during  the  Seventeenth 
century?  How  were  these  different  articles 
when  needed,  obtained? 

For  many  years  after  the  Colony's  foundation, 
armor  continued  to  be  worn  there  in  time  of  war, 
although  it  had  been  practically  discarded  in  England 
as  no  longer  affording  protection  against  the  impact 
of  a  bullet.  The  reason  lay  in  the  special  weapons 
of  the  Indians;  until,  by  trade  with  white  men,  they 
procured  an  ample  supply  of  guns,  powder,  and  lead, 
a  fine  suit  of  steel  was  capable  of  resisting  any  imple- 
ment they  might  bring  to  bear,  whether  it  was  the 
bow  and  arrow,  or  the  tomahawk.  In  the  beginning, 
armorers  were  constantly  sent  out  from  England  to 
Jamestown  in  order  to  repair  the  coats  of  mail,  which, 
at  this  time,  proved  to  be  so  serviceable;  but  the 
means  of  shielding  the  body  was  not  confined  to  head- 
pieces, coats,  and  corselets  of  metal, — quilted  coats 
and  jackets  and  buff  coats  were  also  used  with  almost 
equal  success.  The  personal  weapons  now  relied  upon 
by  the  soldier  in  attack  or  defence  were  snaphaunce 

30 


Arms  and  Ammunition  31 

pieces,  matchlocks,  muskets,  pistols,  petronels,  swords, 
rapiers,  hangers,  and  daggers.  Writing  of  this  early 
period,  Smith  stated  that  there  was  scarcely  a  man 
in  the  Colony  who  was  not  furnished  with  "a  piece, 
a  lock,  a  coat-of-mail,  a  sword  or  rapier. ni 

Although,  during  these  first  years,  the  very  existence 
of  the  settlement  at  Jamestown  depended  upon  the 
completeness  of  all  the  military  arrangements,  yet 
as  late  as  161 1  no  house  for  either  the  weapons  or 
the  powder  had  been  built.  The  vigilant  and  prac- 
tised eye  of  Dale,  fresh  from  the  wars  in  the  Low 
Countries,  perceived  the  need  of  such  storehouses  as 
soon  as  he  disembarked.2  So  slenderly,  however,  was 
Virginia  provided  with  ammunition  six  years  later 
that  Governor  Argoll  considered  it  prudent  to  issue 
a  proclamation  forbidding  the  waste  of  powder  in 
wanton  firing.3  The  Indians  soon  observed  the  small 
use  made  of  the  gun  by  the  colonists  in  consequence 
of  this  general  order,  and  not  understanding  the  real 
cause,  but  supposing  that  the  "English  pieces  were 
sick,"  took  advantage  of  it  to  fall  upon  the  outlying 
settlers,  many  of  whom  they  were  able  to  slay  by 
the  suddenness  of  their  attack.4 

The  appalling  Massacre  of  1622,  which  showed  in 
such  a  distressing  manner  how  great  was  the  need  of 
guns  and  ammunition  on  the  plantations  at  that  time, 

1  Works  of  Captain  John  Smith,  vol.  ii.,  p.  258,  Richmond  edition. 
At  Smith's  departure  for  England,  there  were  three  hundred  small 
arms  in  the  Colony,  such  as  muskets,  snaphaunces,  firelocks,  etc. 
Works  of  Captain  John  Smith,  vol.  i.,  p.  240,  Richmond  edition. 

2  Brown's  Genesis  of  the  United  States,  vol.  i.,  p.  492. 

3  "No  man  to  shoot  but  in  defence  of  himself  against  enemies 
until  a  new  supply  of  ammunition  comes,  on  pain  of  one  year's 
slavery";  Randolph  MS.,  vol.  iii.,  p.  144. 

4  A  Briefe  Declaration,  Colonial  Records  of  Virginia,  State  Senate 
Doct.,  Extra,  1874,  p.  78. 


32  The  Military  System 

led  the  London  Company  to  petition  the  King  that 
a  large  quantity  of  armor,  then  lying  in  the  Tower, 
should  be  sent  out  to  Virginia,  where  it  might  be  of 
use  in  the  fights  with  the  Indians,  "  though  of  no  use 
for  modern  science."'  The  King  complied.  His  gift 
consisted  of  one  hundred  coats  and  forty  jackets  of 
mail,  four  hundred  jerkins  or  shirts  made  of  the  same 
metal,  and  two  thousand  iron  skulls;  and  in  addition, 
there  were  one  thousand  halberts  and  bills,  two  thou- 
sand pistols,  and  five  hundred  targets  and  bucklers.1 
He  also  furnished  twenty  barrels  of  powder;  to  be 
returned,  however,  by  the  end  of  five  months.  But 
two  years  later,  he  presented  the  Colony  with  a  last2 ; 
which  was  so  greatly  needed  at  this  time  that  the 
General  Assembly  had  been  led  to  pass  an  Act  direct- 
ing the  different  commanding  officers  to  put  a  stop  to 
all  waste  of  this  invaluable  article  at  entertainments, 
at  which  free  drinking  was  likely  to  make  the  people 
reckless  in  its  expenditure.3 

The  following  table  gives  a  closely  approximate 
statement  of  the  resources  in  arms  and  ammunition 
possessed  by  the  Colony  about  the  years  1625  and 
16264: 


1  Abstracts  of  Proceedings  of  Va.  Co.  of  London,  vol.  ii.,  p.  7; 
Colonial  Entry  Book,  1 606-1 662,  p.  203;  British  Colonial  Papers, 
vol.  ii.,  1622-3,  No.  9.  Lord  St.  John,  in  November,  1622,  pre- 
sented the  Colony  with  fifty  coats  of  mail,  which  were  carried  over 
in  the  Abigail;  Abstracts  of  Proceedings  of  Va.  Co.  of  London, 
vol.  ii.,  p.  18.  The  piece  of  armor  discovered  at  Jamestown  when 
earthworks  were  thrown  up  there  during  the  War  of  Secession 
was  not  improbably  one  of  those  presented  by  King  James  or  Lord 
St.  John.  This  piece  is  now  preserved  among  the  collections  of 
the  Virginia  Historical  Society. 

2  British  Colonial  Papers,  vol.  Hi.,  Nos.  19,  33. 
>  Ibid.,  1624-5,  No.  9. 

« Ibid.,  1624-5,  No.  35. 


Arms  and  Ammunition 

Table,  Resources  op  the  Colony  in  Arms  and  Ammunition 
1625-26 


33 


College  Land 

Neck  of  Land 

West  Shirley  Hd 

Jordan's  Journey 

Chaplain's  Choice 

Persey's  Hd 

Paspeheigh , 

Maine 

James  City 

James  Isd 

Neck  of  Land,  Jas.  Cy 

Archer's  Hope 

Burrows  Hill 

Pace's  Paines 

Roger  Smith's  Plantn. 

Blaney's  Plantn 

Saml.  Matthews 

Crowder's  Plantn 

Geo.  Sandys 

Hog  Island 

Martin  Hd 

Mulberry  Isd 

Warrosquoicke 

Newport's  News 

Elizabeth  City 

Hampton  River 

Eastern  Shore 


Coats 

of 
Mail. 


13 

16 

26 

5 

5 

4 

79 

1 
2 


24 

31 
10 

13 


2  3 
7 

4 


Powder 
Pounds. 


Total 276 


"f 

4oi 
66 

35* 

22 

10 

19 

39 

79 

11 

7 
16 

3 
27 
16 

7 
11 

3 
26 

39 

85 

5o 

43 

10 
142} 

68 
145I 


Lead 
Pounds 


1032 


52 

258 
5o8 
704 
340 

253 
60 

784 
38 

IOO 

122 
42 

"5 

12 

3OO 

5° 

33° 
190 
366 

300 
200 

2799 
767 
641 


933i 


Armors. 


17 

II 

8 

13 

7 

19 

15 

9 

27 

15 

1 

8 

2 

9 
10 

7 


14 
22 

30 
20 
62 

31 
21 


Pieces. 


384 


16 
28 
45 
37 
12 
18 

24 
18 

54 
24 

!3 

12 

5 
12 
10 

19 
18 
12 
10 

17 
26 

37 
9 
16 
208 
73 
30 


Swords. 


803 


6 
l5 


32 
6 

57 
9 
4 
7 

3 

9 

12 


11 

3i 
42 
12 
20 

97 
20 

3 


404 


There  should  be  added  to  the  stores  summarized 
in  the  preceding  table  one  buff  and  eighteen  quilted 
coats,  twenty  coats  of  steel,  ten  corselets,  twenty-two 
pistols,  and  twenty-six  matchlocks;  and  also  one  and 
a  half  barrels  of  powder.  From  the  smallness  of  the 
number  of  pistols  found  in  making  this  military  inven- 
tory, it  would  be  inferred  that  the  large  collection  of 
these  weapons  presented  in  1622,  by  King  James, 
either  had  become  useless,  or  had  never  arrived  in  the 
Colony.     In  these  early  years,  it  was  peculiarly  neces- 


34  The  Military  System 

sary  to  disperse  the  arms  and  ammunition  among  the 
different  settlements  so  as  to  afford  the  people  every- 
where a  means  of  defence  in  case  of  an  attack.  This  was 
one  of  the  principal  lessons  taught  by  the  Massacre  of 
1622.  But  it  was  not  enough  that,  in  these  scattered 
groups  of  plantations,  there  should  be  storehouses  in 
which  the  guns,  pistols,  powder,  and  bullets,  the  coats 
of  mail  and  corselets,  could  be  safely  kept ;  for  even  if 
there  were  storehouses  of  this  kind,  the  situation  of 
each  colonist,  living  on  his  own  separate  estate,  and 
exposed  to  the  unexpected  assaults  of  the  wiliest  and 
most  secretive  of  enemies,  was  such  that  the  ordinary 
weapons  could  only  have  been  of  use  to  him  when 
they  stood  ready  to  his  hand.  Should  he  be  able  to 
procure  them  only  by  going  to  a  common  magazine 
standing  several  miles  off,  he  would  run  imminent  risk, 
not  only  of  being  cut  off  himself,  but  also,  in  his  absence, 
of  having  his  whole  family  butchered  and  mutilated  by 
the  tomahawk  and  scalping-knife  of  the  savage.  If  the 
authorities,  in  recognition  of  such  a  danger,  distributed 
the  arms  and  ammunition  allotted  to  the  respective 
districts  by  the  government  at  Jamestown,  not  among 
the  different  settlements,  but  among  the  different  land- 
owners, only  a  few  years  must  have  passed  before  most  of 
the  guns  were  either  broken  or  destroyed  in  the  pursuit 
of  wild  game,  or  seriously  rusted  from  disuse,  whilst  the 
larger  part  of  the  powder  was  consumed  either  in  hunt- 
ing or  in  wanton  firing,  or  was  lost  by  mere  carelessness. 
In  spite  of  the  considerable  amount  of  military 
supplies  shown  by  the  report  of  1624-5  to  be  in  the 
Virginians'  possession  at  that  time,  it  is  no  cause  for 
surprise  to  find  that,  at  the  end  of  the  next  two  years, 
the  Governor  and  Council  wrote  to  the  Lords  Com- 
missioners in  England  that  the  store  of  powder  and 


Arms  and  Ammunition  35 

bullets  in  the  Colony  then  was  so  scanty  that  it  was 
insufficient  for  use  even  against  domestic  enemies.1 
This  fact  led,  in  1627,  to  the  issuance  of  a  proclamation 
containing  a  warning  against  a  wasteful  expenditure  of 
powder  on  the  occasion  of  a  public  meeting,  drinking- 
bout,  marriage,  or  any  other  entertainment.  There  was 
the  more  reason  for  such  restraint  and  economy  at 
this  time  because  a  war  with  the  Indians  was  impend- 
ing.2 The  Governor  earnestly  petitioned  the  King 
in  1630  to  increase  the  quantity  of  this  material  in 
Virginia  by  adding  to  it  two  or  three  lasts  drawn  from 
his  private  store.3  During  the  following  year,  Captain 
Osborne  received  one  hundred  and  fifty  pounds  of 
tobacco  for  lead  which  he  had  furnished  the  Colony, 
and  eight  hundred  pounds  for  buff  coats;  whilst  one 
hundred  were  paid  another  person  for  the  like  articles 
which  he  too  had  supplied  at  his  own  expense.4  Among 
the  different  kinds  of  ammunition  transported  to 
Virginia  in  1641  by  the  ship  Dor  sett  were  ten  barrels 
of  powder.5  Only  three  years  later,  a  general  tax,  in 
proportion  to  the  number  of  tithables  last  returned  to 
Jamestown,  was  imposed  for  the  purchase  of  the  like 
material  as  well  as  of  shot  and  lead.6  And  so  indis- 
pensable to  every  person  for  the  defence  of  himself  and 
family  was  the  possession  of  arms  and  ammunition 
considered  at  this  time  to  be  that  they  were  specially 
exempted  from  execution  at  the  sheriff's  hands  to 
satisfy  a  judgment.7 

»  British  Colonial  Papers,  vol.  iv.,  1626-28,  No.  1. 

2  Randolph  MS.,  vol.  iii.,  p.  210. 

3  British  Colonial  Papers,  vol.  v.,  1629-30,  No.  85. 
*  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  i.,  p.  171. 

s  British  Colonial  Papers,  vol.  x.,  1639-43,  No.  87,  I. 
6  Robinson  Transcripts,  p.  240. 
«  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  i.,  p.  297. 


36  The  Military  System 

George  Menifle  and  Richard  Bennett,  two  of  the 
Colony's  most  prominent  and  trusted  citizens,  were, 
in  1644-5,  appointed  commissioners  to  purchase  a  large 
quantity  of  powder  and  shot;  and  in  order  that  they 
might  have  a  sufficient  fund  with  which  to  do  this,  they 
were  impowered  to  use  for  this  purpose  all  the  public 
tobacco  accumulated  in  the  possession  of  the  different 
sheriffs.1  About  ten  years  afterwards,  an  assessment 
for  the  acquisition  of  the  same  articles  by  each  county 
was  ordered;  and  the  justices  were,  at  a  later  date, 
required  to  inform  the  General  Assembly  as  to  whether 
this  levy  had  really  been  made  by  them,  and  also  as  to 
whether  any  ammunition  remained  in  their  custody.2 
The  fines  collected  by  the  local  courts  for  various 
offences  were  now  for  the  most  part  expended  in  the 
purchase  of  powder  and  shot.3  It  was  one  of  the 
principal  duties  of  the  commissioners  of  militia  ap- 
pointed for  each  county  to  provide  four  barrels  of  the 
former,  and  a  proportionate  quantity  of  the  latter, 
for  each  regiment  of  troops  subject  to  their  command; 
and  the  cost  of  both  was  defrayed  by  a  special  appro- 
priation.4 Not  infrequently,  a  private  citizen,  at  his 
own  expense,  supplied  both  arms  and  ammunition,  for 
which  he  was  afterwards  reimbursed  in  the  public  levy; 
as  large  a  sum  as  six  thousand  pounds  of  tobacco  was, 
in  1656,  received  by  Col.  Edward  Hill  to  recoup  him  for 
such  an  outlay.5 

After  the  period  of  the  Commonwealth  ended,  each 
county  was  impowered  to  pass  a  by-law  to  enable  it, 

«  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  i.,  p.  297. 
2  Randolph  MS.,  vol.  iii.,  p.  256. 

*  Ibid.,  p.  263. 

*  Ibid.,  p.  269. 
5  Ibid.,  p.  273. 


Arms  and  Ammunition  37 

by  taxation  confined  to  its  own  inhabitants,  to  provide 
as  much  ammunition  as  its  militia  should,  by  experience, 
be  found  to  need.1  In  order  to  increase  the  quantity 
of  powder  on  hand,  Governor  Berkeley,  in  1667,  urged 
the  English  Government  to  allow  no  vessel  to  set  sail 
for  Virginia  from  an  English  port  without  ten  or  twenty 
barrels  of  this  article,  to  be  paid  for  by  the  authorities 
at  Jamestown  at  a  rate  representing  an  advance  of 
fifty  per  cent,  on  its  price  when  obtained  in  the  Mother 
Country.2  Three  years  afterwards,  the  same  Governor, 
in  the  Colony's  name,  secured  a  large  quantity  of  powder 
and  shot,  for  which,  though  valued  at  one  hundred  and 
fifty-one  pounds  sterling,  he  laid  down  at  once  only  sev- 
enty-five pounds  and  seventeen  shillings.  At  this  time, 
ammunition  for  public  use  was  bought  by  means  of  an 
annual  public  appropriation;  and  it  was  in  anticipation 
of  such  an  appropriation  that  Berkeley  made  the  pur- 
chase last  referred  to,  probably  under  an  apprehension 
that,  should  he  allow  the  opportunity  to  pass,  the 
country  would,  for  the  time  being,  greatly  suffer.  The 
General  Assembly  gave  directions  that  the  sum  of 
eighty-five  pounds  and  seven  shillings  should  be  paid 
him,  presumably  by  way  of  reimbursement;  whilst  the 
powder  and  shot  acquired  were  to  be  distributed  among 
the  counties  in  proportion  to  the  number  of  their 
respective  soldiers.3 

In  1673,  the  General  Assembly  passed  an  Act  designed 
to  supply  the  militia  with  arms  and  ammunition  in 
larger  quantities,  and  with  greater  certainty,  than 
formerly.4     The  captains  of  both  horse  and  foot  in 

1  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  ii.,  p.  238. 

2  British  Colonial  Papers,  vol.  xvi.,  No.  143. 

3  Orders  of  Assembly,  Oct.  3,  1670,  Colonial  Entry  Book,  vol. 
lxxxvi.;  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  ii.,  p.  514- 

*  Only  one  year  had  passed  since  Chichely  had  stated  that  twenty 


38  The  Military  System 

each  county  were  required  to  take  into  careful  account 
whatever  deficiency  in  either  articles  might  exist  in 
their  several  troops  and  companies,  with  a  view  to 
reporting  it  to  the  commanding  colonel;  or  if  there 
should  happen  to  be  for  a  time  no  such  superior  officer, 
then  to  the  justices  of  the  county  court.  In  order  to 
meet  the  want,  whether  it  consisted  of  powder  and  shot 
alone,  or  of  muskets  and  swords  for  the  foot,  and  pistols, 
carbines,  and  swords  for  the  horse,  a  special  levy  was  to 
be  laid  by  the  county  as  the  quickest  means  of  raising 
the  necessary  purchase  money.  At  least  two  pounds 
of  powder  and  six  pounds  of  shot  were  to  be  provided 
for  every  common  soldier ;  but  all  the  stores  of  these  two 
articles  were  to  remain  in  the  officers'  custody,  and 
to  be  distributed  only  when  an  occasion  for  their 
immediate  use  arose.1 

How  great  was  the  general  deficiency  in  both  arms 
and  ammunition  at  this  time  may  be  judged  from  the 
reports  made  under  the  terms  of  this  Act  by  the  militia 
officers  of  York  and  Accomac  counties.  John  Page 
stated  that  there  were  wanting  in  the  York  troop  of 
horse  seven  cutlers  with  waist  belts,  fifty  carbines,  and 
forty  cases  of  pistols  and  holsters;  in  Colonel  Bacon's 
regiment  of  foot,  eighty  muskets  and  one  hundred  and 
sixty  swords  and  belts ;  and  in  the  regiment  commanded 
by  Colonel  Beale,  seventy  muskets  and  seventy  cutlers. 
Moreover,   there  seems  to  have  been  no   supply  of 

regiments  of  foot  and  as  many  of  horse  had  been  recently  raised, 
and  yet  one  soldier  in  every  ten  was  lacking  in  arms.  Unless  the 
King,  Chichely  declared,  "would  send  some  supply  of  arms  and 
ammunition  with  cannon  and  ball  for  our  forts,  we  must  be  forced 
to  fly  to  the  mountains  for  our  security,  and  leave  this  country  and 
our  estates  a  prey  to  the  invader. "  There  was  danger  at  this  time 
of  an  attack  from  the  sea;  British  Colonial  Papers.vol.  xxx.,  No.  51. 
»  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  ii.,  p.  304. 


Arms  and  Ammunition  39 

ammunition.1  The  deficiencies  of  the  same  character 
among  the  Accomac  militia  were  even  more  remarkable; 
for  instance,  Captain  John  West's  company  of  foot  was 
in  need  of  thirty  muskets,  seventy  swords,  and  one 
hundred  and  sixty  pounds  of  powder;  precisely  the 
same  want  existed  in  Captain  Littleton's;  whilst  the 
various  articles  lacking  in  Captain  Scarborough's 
numbered  seventeen  muskets,  seventy  swords,  one 
hundred  and  forty  pounds  of  powder,  and  four  hundred 
pounds  of  shot.2  If  the  deficiency  in  arms  and  am- 
munition in  Captain  West's  company  was  made  good 
at  this  time,  a  like  deficiency  again  arose  before  many 
years  had  passed,  for,  in  1683,  that  company  is  stated 
to  have  been  wanting  in  forty  carbines,  thirty  swords, 
and  thirty  pairs  of  pistols,  whilst  Captain  William 
Custis's  was  lacking  in  thirty  carbines  and  eighteen 
pairs  of  pistols.  Under  an  arrangement  made  by  the 
county  court,  all  these  arms  were  afterwards  brought  in 
from  England.3 

The  Militia  Act  of  1673  was  considered  to  be  so  useful 
and  effective  that  it  was  renewed  in  1675.  The  officers 
for  the  different  counties  continued  to  report  great 
deficiencies  in  both  arms  and  ammunition.  In  the 
course  of  the  latter  year,  the  court  of  Middlesex  in- 
structed Colonel  Christopher  Wormeley  and  Lieut.- 
Colonel  John  Burnham  to  procure  from  England  eighty 
firelock  muskets,  and  the  same  number  of  swords  and 
belts,  for  the  soldiers  under  their  commands  who  were 
lacking  in  these  arms,  whilst  Major  Robert  Beverley 
was  ordered  to  obtain  from  England  also,  for  his  own 
company's  supply,  thirty  muskets  and  thirty  swords 

•  York  County  Records,  vol.  1671-94,  p-  68. 

2  Accomac  County  Records,  vol.  1673-76,  p.  174- 

3  Ibid.,  vol.  1682-97,  p.  129. 


4o  The  Military  System 

and  belts.  The  troop  of  horse  under  Captain  Walter 
Whitaker  were  in  need  of  fifteen  cases  of  pistols,  fifteen 
hangers,  and  forty  carbines;  and  he  also  was  ordered 
to  buy  them  abroad.  These  officers,  for  the  amount 
which  they  should  expend  in  purchasing  the  weapons, 
were  to  be  reimbursed  by  a  levy  on  the  tax-payers  of 
the  county  at  the  rate  of  one  hundred  pounds  of  tobacco 
for  every  eight  shillings  actually  paid  by  them.1  Great 
precautions  were  now  taken  that  arms  procured  at  an 
outlay  of  so  much  money  and  inconvenience  should  not 
be  subject  to  the  risk  of  being  permanently  dispersed 
after  being  once  distributed  for  immediate  use  in  a 
campaign  against  the  Indians,  for  whose  destruction 
they  were  chiefly  designed.  In  1677,  an  expedition 
sent  against  the  savages  having  just  returned,  the 
county  court  of  Lancaster  issued  an  order  that  every 
person  who  had  participated  in  it,  should,  by  a  certain 
date,  bring  to  the  court-house  the  musket,  sword,  car- 
bine, or  bandoleer  which  he  had  received  from  either 
Colonel  William  Ball  or  Lieut. -Colonel  John  Carter.2 
And  the  course  followed  by  the  court  in  this  instance 
was  followed  by  all  the  others  under  the  like  circum- 
stances. 

A  large  quantity  of  arms  and  ammunition  was,  in 
1676,  sent  out  to  the  Colony  from  England  along  with 
the  regiment  of  regulars  dispatched  thither  in  order  to 
suppress  the  insurrection.  It  embraced  one  hundred 
barrels  of  powder,  one  thousand  snaphaunce  muskets, 
as  many  bandoleers,  seven  hundred  carbines,  and  a 
varied  assortment  of  bullets  and  shot,  together  with 
flints  and  hand  grenados.  The  whole  collection  was 
valued  at  an  amount  equal  in  purchasing  power  to 

»  Middlesex  County  Records,  vol.  1673-80,  folio  p.  58. 
*  Lancaster  County  Records,  Orders  Sept.  12,  1677. 


Arms  and  Ammunition  41 

fifty  thousand  dollars.1  At  first,  these  articles  of  war 
were  ordered  by  the  Assembly  to  be  stored  in  the  public 
magazine  situated  at  Middle  Plantation,2  which  seems 
to  have  been  built  after  the  arrival  of  the  English 
soldiers,  many  of  whom  were,  for  several  years,  employed 
in  guarding  it3 ;  but  so  heavy  was  the  charge  entailed  by 
this  that,  in  1680,  it  was  proposed  that  its  contents 
should  be  placed  in  the  custody  of  several  of  the  ''most 
considerable  and  loyal  gentlemen"  in  the  Colony.4  An 
additional  reason  which  appeared  to  make  this  step 
advisable  was  that,  the  English  regulars  having,  in 
consequence  of  a  serious  reduction  in  their  wages,  be- 
come discontented  and  mutinous,  there  was  ground  for 
apprehending  that  they  would  seize  the  magazine,  rifle 
it  of  its  stores,  and  then  upset  the  established  order.5 
The  arms  and  ammunition  were  finally  distributed 
among  the  counties  in  proportion  to  the  number  of 
their  respective  tithables.6 

When,  in  1679,  Culpeper  went  out  to  Virginia  to 
serve  as  its  Governor,  he  carried  thither  in  the  ship 

»  The  figures  in  English  money  were  £2477,  6s.,  a  sum  which  then 
had  a  purchasing  power  at  least  four  times  greater  than  it  would 
have  now.     Colonial  Entry  Book,  1675-81,  p.  68. 

2  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  ii.,  p.  404. 

3  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1676-81,  p.  296;  Council  Minutes,  Aug. 
3,  1680,  Colonial  Entry  Book,  vol.  lxxx. 

*  Council  Minutes,  Aug.  3,  1680,  Colonial  Entry  Book,  vol.  lxxx. 

s  "They  are  much  more  inclined  to  disserve  his  Majesty  by 
mutiny,  if  not  by  joyning  with  ye  discontented  planters,  who  with 
any  opportunity  and  such  assistance,  I  feare  might  be  taught  to 
fly  out  again  into  disorders";  see  letter  of  Sir  Henry  Chichely, 
May  30,  1682,  British  Colonial  Papers,  vol.  xlviii.,  No.  88.  One  of 
the  companies  was,  in  1677,  billeted  in  Nansemond  and  Isle  of 
Wight  counties,  and  many  of  the  soldiers  remained  there  after 
the  regiment  was  disbanded.  Five  shillings  a  week  was  paid  for 
the  board  of  each  soldier;  see  Isle  of  Wight  County  Records,  vol. 
1662-1715,  pp.  359,  376. 

6  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  ii.,  p.  404- 


42  The  Military  System 

conveying  him  one  hundred  barrels  of  powder,  as  many 
muskets,  bayonets,  and  swords  respectively,  two 
hundred  cartouch-boxes,  and  fifteen  French  tents.1 
These  articles  had  been  obtained  at  an  outlay  of  five 
hundred  and  twenty-two  pounds  sterling,  whilst  the 
cost  of  the  articles  purchased  for  his  own  company's 
equipment  amounted  to  an  additional  one  hundred 
and  three  pounds  and  fourteen  shillings ;  these  consist- 
ed of  one  hundred  and  three  muskets,  the  same  num- 
ber of  bandoleers,  three  halberts,  and  two  drums.2  In 
the  course  of  1683,  Captain  John  Purvis,  at  Howard's 
request,  brought  over  in  his  ship  from  England  six  bar- 
rels of  corn  powder,  which  at  this  time  was  valued  at  eigh- 
teen pounds  and  fifteen  shillings3 ;  and  in  the  same  year, 
the  King  presented  the  Colony  with  six  barrels.4  There 
being  now  an  imminent  prospect  of  a  sanguinary  war 
with  the  Seneca  tribe,  the  Council  (Culpeper  being  ab- 
sent in  London)  instructed  each  collector  of  customs  to 
procure  from  vessels  arriving  in  Virginia  one  thousand 
pounds  of  shot  and  bullets.  This  was  to  be  credited  in 
their  accounts  of  fort  duties.5  The  shipmasters  had, 
for  some  years,  been  in  the  habit  of  paying  these  duties 
in  various  forms  of  merchandize.6 


1  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1676-81,  p4.  374. 

2  British  Colonial  Papers,  vol.  lv.,  No.  7. 

3  Ibid. 

*  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1 681-5,  p.  255. 

s  Ibid,  1680-95,  p.  z^5-  The  expression  used  is,  "to  provide  at 
the  entry  of  vessels  for  one  thousand  weight  of  shot,  etc. "  It  is 
possible  that  each  vessel  was  required  to  pay  this  quantity. 

6  See  Grievances  of  Isle  of  Wight  County,  1677,  Winder  Papers, 
vol.  ii.,  p.  186.  In  1683,  the  Council  decided  to  use  the  windmill 
standing  at  Green  Spring  near  Jamestown  as  a  place  for  storing 
the  public  powder,  and  a  house  was  built  near  by  for  the  shelter 
of  the  persons  employed  in  guarding  it;  see  Colonial  Entry  Book, 
1680-95,  p.  156. 


Arms  and  Ammunition  43 

The  importance,  from  a  public  point  of  view,  of  pri- 
vate citizens  possessing  arms  of  different  kinds  was 
shown  again  in  1684,  as  at  an  earlier  date,  by  the  fact 
that  every  sword,  musket,  pistol,  carbine,  fowling 
piece,  or  the  like,  belonging  to  a  private  person  was 
specially  exempted  from  impressment;  nor  were  they 
subject  to  seizure  in  the  process  of  any  distress,  attach- 
ment, or  execution.  *  But  this  solicitude  that  the  people 
should  not,  for  any  reason,  be  deprived  of  the  means 
of  defence  which  they  possessed  as  individuals,  did 
not  make  the  authorities  less  careful  in  keeping  in  their 
own  custody  the  arms  they  were  in  the  habit  of  dis- 
tributing among  the  militia  in  emergencies;  in  1684, 
the  justices  of  Rappahannock  drew  up  for  publication 
at  the  court-house  door  and  from  every  pulpit  in  the 
county,  a  peremptory  order  that  all  persons  having 
any  weapons  belonging  to  the  public  should  deliver 
them  up  forthwith;  and  that  whoever  failed  to  do  so 
should  be  compelled  to  pay  three  hundred  pounds  of 
tobacco  for  every  musket  he  should  hold  back,  six 
hundred  for  every  case  of  pistols,  and  two  hundred  for 
every  carbine.2  The  larger  proportion  of  the  heavy 
stores,  the  Colony's  property,  being  still  in  the  hands 
of  prominent  and  reliable  citizens,  it  is  evident  that 
they  did  not  come  within  the  scope  of  an  order  of  this 
kind.  Most  of  these  stores  were  kept  at  John  Page's 
residence,  and  he  seems  to  have  been  allowed  a  guard 
for  their  protection;  they  consisted  of  brass  guns, 
mortar  pieces,  carbines,  grenados,  bandoleers,  cartouch- 
.  boxes,  drums,  daggers,  halberts,  spikes,  muskets, 
partizans,  pikes,  swords,  saltpetre,  and  shot.3 

1  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  iii.,  p.  13. 

2  Rappahannock  County  Records,  Orders  Oct.  1,  1684. 
2  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1685-90,  p.  65. 


44  The  Military  System 

In  spite  of  this  large  and  varied  collection,  there  were 
certain  articles  of  war  which,  about  this  time,  were 
constantly  imported  from  the  Mother  Country;  for 
instance,  in  1687,  Christopher  Robinson,  of  Middlesex, 
was  instructed  by  the  county  court  to  send  thither 
for  two  brass  trumpets,  with  silver  mouthpieces  and 
hung  with  black  and  white  silk ;  one  set  of  colors  with 
staff  for  a  cavalry  troop  and  one  for  a  foot  company ;  two 
drums  with  six  spare^eads,  four  pair  of  drum  sticks,  and 
two  belts.1  Only  a  few  months  afterwards,  Col.  Wm. 
Lloyd  received  orders  from  the  court  of  Rappahan- 
nock to  procure  from  England  also  four  trumpets,  two 
colors  for  troopers  and  two  for  infantry,  four  drums, 
two  leading  staffs,  four  halberts,  and  two  partizans.2 
The  following  year,  the  justices  of  Westmoreland  gave 
directions  to  the  captain  of  each  company  of  foot  in  the 
county  to  purchase  abroad,  for  the  use  of  the  soldiers 
under  his  command,  thirty  fire-lock  muskets,  thirty 
cartouch-boxes,  and  thirty  broad  slicing  swords  with 
bills.  The  captains  of  horse  were  ordered  to  send 
abroad  also  for  thirty  bridles  and  saddles,  thirty  pairs 
of  pistols  with  holsters,  and  thirty  hangers.  Should 
these  articles,  in  the  course  of  their  transportation  to 
Virginia,  be  lost  at  sea,  the  officers  who  had  bought 
them  in  their  own  names  were  to  be  reimbursed  by  an 
allowance  in  the  regular  county  levy;  but  should  the 
articles  arrive  safely,  the  soldiers  among  whom  they 
were  to  be  distributed  were  to  be  required  to  return  to 
the  purchasers  the  amount  paid  for  each  in  England. 
The  county,   no  doubt,   intended  to   see  that  these 

«  Middlesex  County  Records,  Orders  Dec.  12,  1687.  Robinson 
was  allowed  seven  thousand  pounds  of  tobacco  for  these  articles 
on  their  arrival;  see  Orders  Nov.  11,  1689. 

2  Rappahannock  County  Records,  vol.  1686-92,  orig.  p.  62. 


Arms  and  Ammunition  45 

purchasers  should  not  suffer  by  the  default  of  any 
individual.1  During  the  same  year,  Captain  William 
Lee  received  from  Northumberland  three  thousand 
pounds  of  tobacco  for  a  cornet  staff,  two  trumpets, 
and  other  martial  articles  imported  by  him,  whilst  the 
same  number  of  pounds  was  paid  to  Captain  Richard 
Kenner  and  Captain  Brereton  respectively,  who  had 
each  procured  from  the  Mother  Country  halberts  and 
drum  colors.2 

«  Westmoreland  County  Records,  Orders  March  28,  1688. 
2  Northumberland  County  Records,  vol.  1678-98,  p.  446. 


CHAPTER  IV 

General  Regulations:  Arms  and  Ammunition 

(Continued) 

IN  the  course  of  1689,  the  supply  of  powder  and  ball 
kept  in  the  public  magazine  began  to  run  so  short 
that  the  Council,  fearful  of  the  consequences 
should  intestine  trouble,  Indian  incursion,  or  foreign 
invasion  occur,  instructed  William  Byrd,  the  Auditor- 
General,  to  purchase  in  England  forty  barrels  of  the 
former  article  and  a  proportionate  quantity  of  the 
latter  for  muskets,  carbines,  and  pistols.  This  am- 
munition was  to  be  paid  for  by  the  appropriation  of  a 
sum  obtained  by  the  collection  of  port  duties.1  A  large 
quantity  of  both  powder  and  shot  was  at  this  time 
dispatched  to  Virginia  by  the  King;  but,  it  would  seem, 
not  gratuitously,  for  in  an  order  of  Council  issued  from 
Jamestown  in  1690,  it  was  stated  that  each  county 
receiving  its  pro  rata  share  of  this  ammunition  was, 
through  its  justices,  to  return  the  amount  in  tobacco 
which  would  be  due  for  it.2  Neither  powder  nor  shot 
was  now  allowed  to  be  exported  from  the  Colony,  as 
the  prospect  of  a  French  and  Indian  invasion  was 

1  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1680-95,  P-  321- 

2  See  Henrico  County  Records,  Orders  Dec.  1,  1690;  also  a  letter 
from  Governor  Nicholson,  dated  1690,  and  preserved  in  Colonial 
Entry  Book  for  1685-90. 

46 


Arms  and  Ammunition  47 

considered  to  be  imminent.1  The  different  collectors 
of  customs  were  also  required  to  take  an  account  of  all 
the  ammunition  brought  into  Virginia  by  different 
ships  for  delivery  to  private  citizens;  and  all  citizens 
themselves  were  ordered  to  report  the  respective 
amounts  they  had  in  their  possession.2 

There  was,  in  1691,  a  small  quantity  of  powder  re- 
maining undivided  among  the  different  counties. 
Owing  to  the  expense,  it  was  decided  to  be  unwise  to 
build  a  magazine  in  which  to  store  this  powder,  and 
yet  it  was  considered  unsafe  to  leave  it  without  special 
precautions  to  prevent  it  from  blowing  up.  The 
Council  finally  determined  to  distribute  the  whole 
quantity  among  the  commanders-in-chief,  with  strict 
directions  for  its  preservation.  Four  barrels  of  it  were 
sent  to  York  Fort,  two  to  the  fort  situated  at  James- 
town, and  the  rest  was  transported  to  the  several 
counties;  some  of  which  received  as  many  as  five 
barrels,  but  the  majority  not  more  than  one.  There 
were  apparently  thirty-four  barrels  in  all ;  three  of  these 
had  been  in  the  charge  of  the  elder  Nathaniel  Bacon, 
eleven,  of  Ralph  Wormeley,  and  ten,  of  Edmund 
Jennings  and  Joseph  Ring  respectively.3 

At  this  time,  all  the  muskets  and  carbines  belonging 
to  the  different  counties  were  in  their  several  sheriffs' 
custody,  and  these  officers  were  ordered  to  make  a  full 
report  as  to  their  condition.  It  was  found  that  such 
as  had  not  been  totally  destroyed  were  almost  spoiled 
by  rust,  and  many  were  unfixed.  The  larger  number  of 
those  still  in  existence  were  scattered  far  and  wide 
among  citizens  subject  to  the  military  summons.     The 

•  Minutes  of  Council,  Feb'ry,  1 690-1,  B.  T.  Va.,  1690,  No.  11. 

2  Orders  of  Council,  March  7,  1 690-1,  Colonial  Entry  Book, 
1680-95. 

3  Orders  of  Council,  May  18,  1691,  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1680-95. 


48  The  Military  System 

sheriffs  having  declared  that  any  endeavor  to  collect 
them  for  the  purpose  of  having  them  fixed  either  in 
Virginia  or  in  England  would  prove  too  expensive,  the 
Council  gave  orders  that  all  the  arms  still  remaining  of 
those  belonging  to  the  Colony  should  be  delivered  at 
once  to  such  commanders-in-chief  as  the  Governor 
himself  should  designate ;  who,  however,  was  requested 
to  show  a  preference  for  the  persons  in  military  charge 
of  the  frontier  counties.  All  soldiers  receiving  such 
arms  were  required  to  bind  themselves  to  keep  the  guns 
well  fixed;  and  should  a  militiaman  decide  to  remove 
his  residence  to  another  county,  his  gun  had  to  be 
returned  to  his  commanding  officer.  And  this  had 
also  to  be  done  by  the  family  of  every  soldier  who  had 
recently  died.1 

It  shows  the  extraordinary  scarcity  of  arms  pre- 
vailing in  the  Colony  in  1691  that,  when  William 
Glover,  of  Henrico,  died  and  his  place  in  the  troop  of 
horse  to  which  he  had  belonged  thus  became  vacant, 
that  place  could  not  be  filled  at  once,  as  there  was  no 
one  possessing  the  requisite  carbine,  pistols,  and  sword. 
The  captain  of  the  troop,  William  Randolph,  having 
informed  the  county  court  of  this  fact,  the  justices 
requested  the  persons  inheriting  Glover's  arms  to  sell 
them  to  some  one  who  would  be  willing  to  succeed  him 
in  the  cavalry.2 

There  does  not  appear  to  have  been  any  dearth  of 
powder  at  this  time, — in  one  year  alone,  1692,  as  many 

1  Orders  of  Council,  May  18,  1691,  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1680-95. 

2  Henrico  County  Minute  Book,  1 682-1 701,  p.  332.  The  expres- 
sion used  is  "that  by  ye  departure  of  Mr.  William  Glover,  there  is 
a  place  in  his  troupe  become  vacant. "  Reference  is  made  to  the 
"division  of  his  estate,  "  from  which  it  is  to  be  inferred  that  he  had 
died,  although  it  is  possible  that  he  had  returned  to  England  heavily 
in  debt. 


Arms  and  Ammunition  49 

as  two  hundred  barrels  of  it  were  sent  to  the  Colony 
by  the  English  Government.  After  eighteen  had  been 
distributed  among  York,  James  City,  Nansemond,  and 
Rappahannock  Forts,  and  twenty  among  the  several 
companies  of  rangers  stationed  on  the  frontiers,  the  re- 
mainder were  divided  among  the  different  counties; 
none  of  which  received  less  than  four,  nor  more 
than  twelve  barrels.1  Extraordinary  precautions  were 
adopted  to  prevent  any  improper  expenditure  or  waste 
of  this  powder;  Lieut. -Governor  Nicholson  instructed 
its  custodians  that,  as  it  was  reserved  exclusively  for 
the  country's  defence,  it  should  not  be  used  in  firings  at 
musters ;  and  with  a  view  to  diminishing  the  chance  of 
loss  by  explosion,  that  only  two  barrels  of  it  should  be 
kept  together  at  any  one  place.2  The  danger  of  its 
destruction  in  this  manner  was  constantly  borne  in 
mind  by  this  official  and  his  Council,  in  whose  dis- 
cretion all  questions  relating  to  its  dispersion  rested. 
In  order  that  the  quantity  kept  at  Jamestown  should 
not  be  exposed  to  any  risk  of  this  kind,  a  small  building 
containing  a  powder  room  was,  in  the  course  of  1692-3, 
erected  at  that  place3 ;  but  so  far  as  is  known,  there  was 
no  structure  specially  designed  for  the  same  purpose 
standing  in  any  of  the  other  counties.  It  is  probable 
that  in  each  of  these  counties  the  powder  was  stored 

■  Minutes  of  Assembly,  April  13,  1692,  Colonial  Entry  Book, 
1682-95.  "The  publique  Dr.  to  Henry  Gale  of  Hampton  Parish 
in  York  County  for  nine  days'  service,  being  imprest  by  the  Rt 
Honble,  the  Lt  Governor's  warrant  to  transport  the  County's 
powder  to  ye  several  places  appoynt.,  per  the  said  warrant,  at  15 
lbs  of  Tobo  p.  day.  "  This  warrant  applied  to  York  county  alone; 
see  York  County  Records,  vol.  1690-94,  p.  269,  Va.  St.  Libr.  The 
order  bore  the  date  of  Febry  24,  1692-3. 

2  Nicholson's  Proclamation  is  recorded  in  York  County  Records, 
vol.  1690-94,  p.  203,  Va.  St.  Libr. 

3  Orders  of  Council,  Jany.  14,  1692,  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1680-95. 


*v    of  The    ^P 
UNIVERSITY 


OF 


50  The  Military  System 

away  in  some  tobacco  barn  sufficiently  remote  from 
dwelling  houses  to  remove  all  danger  of  fire,  and  so  well 
protected  against  the  weather  as  to  render  impossible 
any  injury  springing  from  dampness. 

When  a  pressing  emergency  arose,  and  the  supply  of 
arms  and  ammunition  belonging  to  the  county  was 
insufficient,  the  justices  did  not  scruple  to  order  the 
seizure  of  powder  or  shot  known  to  them  to  be  the 
property  of  the  citizens  in  whose  possession  it  was 
found.  As  early  as  1643,  the  judges  of  Northampton, 
having  reason  to  apprehend  the  "great  and  sudden" 
calamity  of  an  Indian  invasion,  gave  the  sheriff  a  per- 
emptory command  to  bring  to  the  court-house  all  those 
articles  then  lying  at  Mr.  John  Nuttall's  residence;  and 
these  were  afterwards  to  be  distributed  among  the 
county's  inhabitants  as  affording  a  means  of  defending 
their  homes  from  an  attack.  For  this  forcible  appro- 
priation of  his  property,  Nuttall  was  to  receive  full 
consideration  in  the  form  of  either  tobacco  or  merchan- 
dize, as  he  should  prefer.1  Among  the  allowances  in- 
cluded in  the  Lancaster  levy  for  1657,  was  one  for  a 
drum  belonging  to  Mr.  Meredith,  who  had  relinquished 
it  in  return  for  three  hundred  and  fifty  pounds  of  to- 
bacco.2 A  few  years  later,  seventeen  citizens  of  York 
county  were  paid  in  a  similar  manner  for  swords  and 
guns,  powder  and  shot  which  had  been  impressed.3 
Nor  was  there  any  attempt  at  this  time,  although  the 
Colony  was  still  poor,  to  reduce  the  compensation  to 
the  point  of  niggardness;  in  1666,  Mr.  Moseley  received 
sixteen  hundred  and  twenty  pounds  of  tobacco  from 
Lower  Norfolk  for  only  fifty  pounds  of  powder,  taken 

»  Northampton  County  Records,  Orders  April  28,  1643. 

2  Lancaster  County  Records,  vol.  1656-66,  p.  39. 

*  York  County  Records,  vol.  1657-62,  pp.  243,  346,  Va.  St.  Libr. 


Arms  and  Ammunition  51 

by  the  authorities  from  his  private  stores1;  and  the 
liberal  spirit  shown  in  this  instance  was  not  exceptional. 
It  was  in  this  year  that  Major-General  Smith  was 
impowered  by  an  order  of  the  Governor  and  Council 
to  demand  possession  of  all  powder  and  shot  known  to 
be  in  the  custody  of  merchants  and  planters,  who,  by 
their  situation,  were  not  exposed  to  imminent  danger 
of  attack  by  an  invading  enemy.  The  various  articles 
of  war  which  might  be  seized  under  the  terms  of  this 
order  were  to  be  carefully  assessed  in  value  and  promptly 
paid  for.2  A  large  quantity  of  powder  and  shot  was, 
in  1673,  obtained  by  this  means  from  a  citizen  of  North- 
umberland; and  about  this  time,  we  again  find  drums 
impressed  in  that  part  of  the  Colony;  Lieutenant 
Claughton,  for  instance,  was  allowed  five  hundred  pounds 
of  tobacco  for  one;  and  for  another,  Major  Brereton 
received  four  hundred  and  fifty  pounds, — rates  of 
compensation  so  high  that  they  can  only  be  explained 
by  the  difficulty  of  procuring  such  an  implement.3 
A  few  years  afterwards,  two  hundred  pounds  of  bullets 
in  the  possession  of  a  citizen  of  Middlesex  having  been 
impressed  for  public  use,  the  owner  was  remunerated 
at  the  rate  of  three  shillings  for  each  pound.4  It  seems 
to  have  been  the  rule  that  every  musket  appropriated 
by  a  county  was  to  be  returned  to  its  owner,  provided 
that  no  damage  had  resulted  to  it  from  its  use;  but  if 
irretrievably  injured,  or  lost  altogether,  it  had  to  be 
paid  for  at  its  full  value.  Six  citizens  of  Lancaster 
county,  whose  guns  had  been  taken,  were  allowed  in 

i  Lower  Norfolk  County  Records,  vol.  1666-75,  p.  8. 

2  Orders,  1666,  Robinson  Transcripts,  p.  118. 

3  Northumberland  County  Records,  Orders  Nov.  7,  1672,  Nov. 
19,  1673. 

*  Middlesex  County  Records  Levy,  Nov.  1,  1675.     These  bullets 
may  have  been  delivered  in  accord  with  a  previous  arrangement. 


52  The  Military  System 

the  levy  of  1659,  fifteen  hundred  pounds  of  tobacco, 
because  the  authorities  were  unable  to  redeliver  these 
guns,  as  they  had,  in  the  course  of  some  expedition, 
been  unintentionally  left  behind.  In  1684,  however,  as 
already  pointed  out,  muskets,  pistols,  carbines,  and 
fowling  pieces  were  specially  exempted  from  impress- 
ment in  order  to  encourage  the  people  to  provide 
themselves  freely  with  such  arms.1 

From  the  Colony's  earliest  settlement,  there  was  to 
be  found  in  the  hands  of  private  citizens  a  large  quan- 
tity of  arms  of  every  sort,  which  they  were  ready  to  use 
when  summoned  to  resist  an  invasion.  The  need  of 
such  arms  as  the  property,  not  of  the  public,  but  of  the 
planters  themselves,  was  an  urgent  one  during  almost 
every  part  of  the  Seventeenth  century;  for  there  was 
not  a  household  residing  in  the  frontier's  vicinity  which, 
in  time  of  war,  was  not  in  constant  apprehension  of  an 
Indian  assault;  and  this  fear  was  only  slightly  allayed 
in  time  of  peace.  But  one  instrument  of  protection 
against  this  treacherous  foe  existed,  namely,  the  rifle, 
and  this  the  colonist  could  employ  with  unerring  skill. 
It  was  not,  however,  simply  for  defence  against  the 
savages  that  the  gun  was  valued;  during  that  early 
period,  when  the  greater  part  of  the  country's  surface 
was  overgrown  with  the  original  forest,  the  settler  was 
compelled  to  be  on  his  guard  against  such  fierce  wild 
beasts  as  bears,  leopards,  and  wolves,  and  he,  no  doubt, 
rarely  entered  the  thick  woods,  even  in  the  older 
divisions  of  Virginia,  without  such  a  weapon  in  his 
hand.     A  passionate  love  of  hunting  also  induced  the 

1  Lancaster  County  Records  Levy,  Nov.  30,  1659;  see  also  North- 
umberland County  Records,  Orders  April  17,  1678.  The  statute 
granting  exemption  will  be  found  in  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  iii.. 
P-    *3- 


Arms  and  Ammunition  53 

colonists  of  that  day  to  purchase  fowling  pieces,  which, 
in  an  emergency,  could  be  turned  against  an  enemy.1 
The  inventories  of  the  Seventeenth  century  throw 
an  instructive  light  as  well  on  the  variety  as  on  the 
quantity  of  weapons  in  private  possession  available  for 
public  defence.  A  few  of  these  may  be  mentioned  in 
order  to  show  their  general  character.  First,  during 
the  period  preceding  the  middle  of  the  century.  Among 
the  effects  of  Arthur  Linney,  who  resided  in  Accomac, 
about  1642,  was  a  pistol  manufactured  of  brass.2  John 
Holloway,  of  Northampton,  owned  at  his  death,  the 
following  year,  five  guns  and  one  pistol.3  William 
Burdett,  also  of  this  county,  provided  in  his  will,  drawn 
the  same  year,  that  the  "  two  great  brass  guns  "  which 
he  expected  from  England  by  an  early  ship  should  be 
carefully  preserved  until  his  son  was  of  age,  and  then 
delivered  to  him.4  The  personal  estate  of  Philip 
Felgate,  who  died  in  Lower  Norfolk,  in  1646,  embraced, 
not  only  a  musket,  carbine,  two  fowling  pieces,  and  a 
a  pair  of  bandoleers,  but  also  an  old  crossbow,  one  suit  of 
black  armor,  and  one  head-piece  of  white, — articles  of 
equipment  probably  descending  from  one  of  the  early 
settlers,  who,  in  the  time  of  the  London  Company,  had 
received  them  as  a  protection  against  the  Indian  arrow. 
Felgate  owned  too  a  large  quantity  of  powder  and  shot.5 
Swords  in  great  numbers  were  also  held  as  private 
property  at  this  time.6     A  bequest  of  a  weapon  of  this 

»  These  private  arms  were  generally  ranged  around  the  walls 
of  the  halls  of  the  different  plantation  residences. 

2  Accomac  County  Records,  vol.  1640-45,  p.  151,  Va.  St.  Libr. 

J  Northampton  County  Records,  Orders  Feby.  10,  1643. 

*  Burdett  Will,  Northampton  County  Records,  Orders  July  4, 
1643. 

s  Lower  Norfolk  County  Records,  vol.  1646-51,  p.  47. 

«  Geo.  Eaton,  of  Lancaster  county,  left  five  swords;  see  Lancaster 
County  Records,  Eaton  Inventory,  1654. 


54  The  Military  System 

kind  to  a  friend  was  now,  as  afterwards,  a  common 
feature  of  wills,  both  because  it  was  a  peculiarly  be- 
coming testimonial  of  special  esteem,  and  because  it 
was  a  gift  of  extraordinary  practical  value  in  a  com- 
munity so  frequently  exposed  to  attack.1  The  cutlass 
and  rapier,  while  apparently  only  rarely  the  subject 
of  a  bequest,  were  perhaps  in  far  more  general  use 
than  the  sword  as  a  weapon  to  be  carried  about  the 
person.  There  are  many  instances  recorded  of  their 
being  whipped  out  suddenly  in  the  course  of  a  violent 
altercation.  In  1643,  Captain  Ingle,  whose  ship  was 
then  riding  in  the  waters  of  Northampton,  having  been 
very  sternly  interrogated  by  Mr.  Yeardley,  a  member  of 
the  Council,  as  to  why  he  was  so  heavily  armed  when 
his  vessel  was  lying  in  harbor,  he  hotly  replied  that  he 
would  walk  his  own  quarter-deck  as  pleased  himself. 
After  other  angry  questions,  Yeardley  arrested  him; 
but  not  content  with  this,  in  a  great  heat  flashed  out 
his  cutlass  and  shook  it  menacingly  at  Ingle's  breast.2 
When  in  the  course  of  the  following  year,  Captain  Stone 
and  Peter  Walker,  of  the  same  county,  were  wrangling 
over  the  value  of  William  Burdett's  estate,  Stone, 
suddenly  drawing  his  rapier,  turned  the  hilt  towards 
Walker's  body.3 

After  the  middle  of  the  century,  arms  of  various 
sorts  became  an  even  more  common  form  of  private 

1  For  an  instance,  see  Rappahannock  County  Records,  vol. 
1664-73,  p.  88,  Va.  St.  Libr.  In  this  case,  the  bequest  was  from 
Henry  Cox  to  James  Miller. 

2  Northampton  County  Records,  Orders  April  28,  1643.  Many 
of  these  swords  were  very  handsome.  Among  the  arms  belonging 
to  Thomas  Cocke,  of  Princess  Anne  county,  was  a  silver  hilted 
sword;  see  Records,  vol.  1 691-1708,  p.  161.  Captain  William 
Kendall,  of  Northampton  county,  also  owned  such  a  sword;  see 
Records,  vol.  1684-98,  p.  499. 

3  Northampton  County  Records,  Orders  Sept.  20,  1644. 


Arms  and  Ammunition  55 

property.  Among  the  personal  possessions  of  Colonel 
William  Farrar,  of  Henrico,  at  his  death  about  1682 
were  not  only  one  long  sword  and  three  horse  pistols, 
but  also  one  drum,  which  the  appraiser  declared  should 
go  to  the  heir  or  eldest  son,  as  it  was  stamped  with  the 
coat-of-arms  of  the  Farrar  family,  one  of  the  most 
distinguished  residing  in  Virginia.1  Francis  Eppes,  of 
the  same  county,  William  Farrar's  contemporary, 
left  as  a  part  of  his  personal  estate,  twelve  guns,  one 
long  and  one  pocket  pistol,  and  also  a  case  of  horse 
pistols.2  Robert  Gullock,  of  Rappahannock,  who  died 
about  1678,  owned  at  that  time  five  guns,  two  cases  of 
pistols,  and  one  scimitar;  and  John  English,  of  the  same 
county,  two  pistols,  one  for  the  pocket,  the  other  for 
the  holster.3  Teague  Harman,  in  1684,  bequeathed  to 
William  Nottingham,  who,  like  himself,  was  a  citizen 
of  Northampton,  a  long  gun,  a  pair  of  pistols  and  hol- 
sters, and  a  breastplate.4  A  breastplate  was  also  one 
of  the  various  articles  of  personality  left  by  John  John- 


1  Henrico  County  Minute  Book,  1682-1701,  p.  9,  Va.  St.  Libr. 
The  following  shows  that  skill  with  the  rapier  was  often  acquired 
by  the  instructions  of  professional  teachers:  "Mr.  Garrett  having 
to  this  court  brought  his  accont.  against  John  Floyd  deft,  for  that 
ye  said  Floyd  did  agree  with  him  ye  Pit.  to  teach  him  to  play 
skilfully  with  those  weapons,  vizt.  Backsword  and  Rapier,  doth 
much  neglect  his  duty  therein;  to  which  ye  sd.  Floyd  appearing 
and  admitting  ye  sd.  contract,  and  in  part  ye  neglect,  doth  for  ye 
satisfaction  of  ye  sd.  Garrett  pit.  and  his  other  scholars 
for  ye  future  oblige  himself  constantly  to  attend  for  two  months 
at  ye  places  where  usually  they  exercise  on  Monday  and  Saturday 
in  each  week."  Henrico  County  Minute  Book,  1682-1701,  p.  203, 
Va.  St.  Libr. 

2  Henrico  County  Records,  vol.  1677-92,  orig.  p.  94. 

3  Rappahannock  County  Records,  vol.  1 677-1 682,  orig.  pp. 
29,  30,  60,  69,  81,  85;  see  Va.  St.  Libr.  copy  of  this  volume  for  several 
of  these  references. 

4  Northampton  County  Records,  vol.  1683-89,  p.  100. 


56  The  Military  System 

son,  of  Henrico,  at  his  death.1  William  Bevin,  of  the 
same  county,  by  will  presented  a  long  gun,  having  a 
snap-hammer  lock,  to  his  son;  and  to  his  son-in-law, 
a  musket.2  Charles  Clay,  also  of  Henrico,  possessed 
at  his  death  a  collection  of  six  guns.3  Thomas  Os- 
borne's personal  estate  included,  among  other  pieces 
of  property,  four  guns,  one  carbine  and  three  pistols, 
valued  together  at  four  pounds  and  five  shillings;  and 
it  also  included  a  rapier  and  a  breastplate.4  In  1693, 
William  Axell,  of  Lower  Norfolk,  owned  one  pair  of 
pistols,  one  small  gun,  and  one  small  sword.  A 
breastplate  also  was  entered  in  his  inventory.5  John 
Foisin,  a  merchant  of  French  origin,  who  resided  in 
Henrico  at  this  time,  possessed  a  pair  of  holsters  faced 
with  green  plush;  a  pair  of  pistols  having  burnished 
stocks  and  locks  of  French  manufacture;  a  gun  of  a 
precisely  similar  pattern,  but  also  garnished  with  brass; 
three  guns  having  walnut  stocks,  one  breastplate,  and 
a  scimitar.6  The  inventory  of  the  personal  estate  of 
Captain  Anthony  Smith,  of  Essex,  who  died  in  1693-4, 
shows  that  he  was  the  owner  of  four  guns  and  a 
complete  set  of  trooper's  arms.7  Abram  Smith,  of 
Northampton,  whose  death  occurred  a  few  years  later, 
bequeathed  a  long  gun  to  each  of  his  two  eldest  sons,  and 
a  screw  gun  to  his  youngest.8  It  is  a  proof  of  the  extra- 
ordinary value  attached  to  a  gun  at  this  time  that,  in 
each  of  the  preceding  instances,  the  tenure    of    the 

1  Henrico  County  Records,  vol.  1688-97,  p.  211,  Va.  St.  Libr. 

2  Ibid.,  vol.  1677-92,  orig.  p.  352. 

3  Ibid.,  vol.  1677-92,  orig.  p.  379. 

*  Ibid.,  vol.  1688-97,  P-  35°»  Va.  St.  Libr. 

*  Lower  Norfolk  County  Records,  vol.  1685-95,  p.  203. 

«  Henrico  County  Records,  vol.  1688-97,  P-  463»  Va.  St.  Libr. 

7  Essex  County  Records,  Orders  Febry.  10,  1693-4. 

8  Northampton  County  Records,  vol.  1689-98,  p.  460. 


Arms  and  Ammunition  57 

article  was  for  life,  and,  therefore,  carried  no  right 
of  disposition  by  will  or  personal  gift.  Among  the 
contents  of  Captain  William  Kendall's  personal  estate 
appraised  in  1698,  were  three  large  and  two  small  guns, 
seven  muskets,  a  pair  of  pistols,  three  bayonets,  one 
unhilted  and  two  silver  hilted  swords.1 

Sometimes,  the  weapons  in  a  planter's  possession 
remained  untouched  and  uncared  for  during  so  long  a 
time  that  they  finally  became  worthless.  The  personal 
property  belonging  to  Joseph  Smith  of  Middlesex,  at 
his  death  in  1698,  included  one  old  sword,  so  rusty  that 
it  could  not  be  drawn  from  its  scabbard;  and  there 
were  two  old  pistols  so  ruined  by  natural  decay  that  it 
was  impossible  to  charge  them.2 

During  the  Seventeenth  century  one  of  the  most 
lucrative  of  mechanical  employments  consisted  of  re- 
pairing the  different  military  weapons.  In  the  matter 
of  "fixing"  guns  as  it  was  called, — the  term  applied 
to  adjusting  anew  the  parts  attached  for  the  purpose 
of  igniting  the  powder, — a  smith  was  not  allowed  by 
law  to  decline  to  make  the  change  when  requested  to 
do  so,  since  a  refusal  was  considered  to  be  directly 
opposed  to  the  community's  safety,  dependant  as  it 
was  upon  the  guns  being  always  in  a  condition  for  use 
at  an  instant's  notice.  The  justices  of  Lower  Norfolk, 
in  165 1,  issued  an  order  that  William  Johnson,  the 
county's  principal  smith,  should  fix  the  arms  of  every 

1  Northampton  County  Records,  vol.  1689-98,  p.  499. 

2  Middlesex  County  Records,  vol.  1698-17 13,  p.  29.  The  weapons 
from  age  not  infrequently  burst  in  firing.  In  1678,  Daniel  Wade, 
of  Gloucester  county,  petitioned  for  exemption  from  taxes  and 
military  service  because  at  a  general  muster  he  had  lost  a  hand  by 
his  gun  blowing  to  pieces  as  he  fired  it  "in  the  King's  and  Country's 
service."  Surry  County  Records,  vol.  1671-84,  p.  302,  Va.  St. 
Libr. 


58  The  Military  System 

man  who  should  bring  them  to  his  shop.  As  a  re- 
taliatory expedition  against  the  Indians  was  now 
preparing,  which  made  it  of  supreme  importance  that 
all  the  guns  should  be  put  in  good  shape,  the  cost  of 
mending  and  adjusting  them,  as  well  as  of  restoring 
the  other  necessary  weapons  to  perfect  condition,  was 
to  be  met  by  a  general  allowance  in  the  next  levy. 
The  county,  however,  was,  no  doubt,  to  be  reimbursed 
by  the  persons  whose  arms  had  been  repaired.1 

The  General  Assembly,  as  late  as  1672,  passed  an  Act 
declaring  that,  whenever  a  smith  had  mended  any 
arms  by  request,  he  should  keep  an  account  of  the  work 
for  submission  to  the  justices  of  his  county  at  their  next 
term,  with  a  view  to  its  insertion  in  the  first  levy  to  be 
laid.  The  public,  however,  were  in  the  end  to  incur  no 
loss,  as  the  owners  of  the  weapons  were  to  be  required 
to  pay  back  the  amounts  charged  for  restoring  them  to 
good  condition.2  In  the  course  of  1691,  the  smiths 
throughout  the  Colony  having  declined  to  receive,  in 
the  form  of  tobacco,  their  remuneration  for  repairing 
the  arms  of  the  militiamen  who  had  been  called  out 
owing  to  the  dangerous  times,  the  Governor  and  Council 
adopted  an  order  that  the  work  should  be  paid  for  in 
tobacco,  but  paid,  not  by  the  soldier  whose  weapon 
had  been  repaired,  but  by  the  county,  in  accord  with  the 
law  of  1672,  as  in  this  way,  the  fullest  assurance  would 
be  given  the  smiths  that  their  accounts  would  be 
promptly  settled.3 

1  Lower  Norfolk  County  Records,  vol.  1651-56,  p.  12. 

2  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  ii.,  p.  294.  An  interesting  instance  of 
a  blacksmith's  account  will  be  found  in  Northampton  County 
Records,  Orders  Nov.  7,  1645. 

3  This  order  was  carried  out  in  York,  and  no  doubt,  in  all 
the  other  counties;  see  York  County  Records,  vol.  1690-94,  p.  141, 
Va.  St.  Libr.     The  original  order  is  recorded  in  Minutes  of  Council, 


Arms  and  Ammunition  59 

While  the  roughest  repairing  was  done  by  the 
ordinary  blacksmith,  there  are  indications  that  the 
Colony  was  not  wanting  in  trained  gunsmiths  fully 
competent  to  do  all  the  finer  work.  As  England  was 
too  remote  to  make  it  practicable  to  send  thither  every 
musket,  carbine,  fowling  piece,  or  pistol  which  the 
plantation  blacksmith  was  unable  to  restore,  there  was 
a  considerable  field  for  gunsmiths  who  had  served  an 
apprenticeship  at  their  trade  either  in  Virginia  or  the 
Mother  Country.  The  importance  of  having  such  men 
led  the  General  Assembly  to  grant  them  unusual 
privileges;  for  instance,  the  menders  of  guns,  whether 
expert  gunsmiths  or  common  blacksmiths,  were  almost 
the  only  mechanics  in  the  Colony  whose  accounts, 
certainly  in  critical  times,  were  guaranteed  by  the 
authorities.  Upon  their  skill  and  celerity  in  an  emer- 
gency, the  community's  very  existence  might  turn; 
therefore,  to  pursue  towards  them  a  policy  tending  to 
discourage  them  in  their  calling  was  to  court  serious 
injury,  if  not  absolute  ruin,  to  the  public  interests. 
Whatever  the  blacksmith's  position  in  the  community, 
apart  from  his  trade,  may  have  been,  there  is  evidence 
that  some  persons  among  the  gunsmiths,  whose  trade 
demanded  a  higher  grade  of  intelligence  and  expertness, 
were  men  of  property  and  education.  One  of  the  most 
prominent  citizens  of  Northampton  in  1696  was  Charles 
Parkes,  who  had  followed  this  business  for  many  years. 
That  he  was  a  man  of  a  superior  order  was  shown  by 
the  character  of  his  collection  of  books :  it  contained  not 
only  fifteen  works  relating  to  the  subject  of  Divinity, 


Jan'y  27,  1691-2,  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1680-95.  The  smiths' 
accounts  were  returned  to  the  General  Assembly,  and  by  that  body 
proportioned  among  the  counties. 


60  The  Military  System 

but  also  eleven  relating  to  the  subject  of  History. 
Among  the  specific  volumes  were  Speed's  Chronicle 
and  Drake's  Travels.1 

«  Northampton  County  Records,  vol.   1 692-1 707,  p.   131.     The 
gunsmith  is  generally  referred  to  in  the  statutes  as  "armorer." 


CHAPTER  V 
General  Regulations  :   Drill  and  Discipline 

WE  have  seen  how  the  militia  obtained  their  of- 
ficers, arms,  accoutrements,  and  ammunition. 
How  were  they  prepared  for  actual  military 
service,  and  to  what  discipline  were  they  subjected 
during  the  continuation  of  that  service  ? 

There  were  certain  features  of  the  plantation  life  of 
Virginia  during  the  Seventeenth  century  which  ani- 
mated every  youth  of  that  period  with  some  of  the  spirit 
of  a  soldier  long  before  he  was,  for  the  first  time,  sum- 
moned to  take  part  in  the  martial  exercises  of  the  muster 
field,  or  to  accompany  a  military  expedition  to  the  fron- 
tiers. First  of  all,  it  was  a  life  passed  principally  in  the 
open  air  without  regard  to  the  season  of  the  year.  The 
biting  cold  of  winter,  the  relaxing  heat  of  summer,  the 
drenching  downpour  of  spring, — all  these  the  young 
Virginian  had,  from  his  early  boyhood,  been  accustomed 
to  endure,  and  they  had  only  served  to  harden  his 
frame.  His  self-confidence  and  self-reliance  had  been 
strengthened  by  a  brave  defiance  of  all  sorts  of  weather; 
now  it  was  a  snow-storm  that  obliterated  all  view  of  the 
landscape,  near  or  remote;  now  an  icy  wind  from  the 
north  roaring  through  the  naked  woods  and  blackening 
the  fields  with  its  withering  breath;  now  a  tempest  of 
hail  accompanied  by  violent  thunder  and  lightning; 
now  the  torrid  rays  of  an  August  sun  flaming  at  the 

61 


62  The  Military  System 

zenith  in  a  cloudless  sky.  Then  too  from  the  time  he 
could  shoulder  a  fowling  piece  he  had  been  in  the  habit 
of  using  firearms;  at  an  early  age  he  not  only  acquired 
all  the  skill  of  a  practised  marksman,1  but  also  learned 
all  the  craft  of  an  accomplished  woodsman.  By  his 
many  tramps  over  hills  and  valleys  in  his  keen  search 
for  wild  game,  a  search  often  made  in  the  darkness  and 
loneliness  of  night, — -he  cultivated  the  ability  to  stand 
any  amount  of  unusual  fatigue.  His  pursuit  of  the 
hare,  fox,  and  deer  during  the  day,  and  of  the  coon 
and  opossum  after  the  evening  star  had  risen,  prepared 
his  sinews  for  the  weary  marches  in  which  at  a  later 
day  he  was  to  take  part  for  the  destruction  of  the 
savage  foe.  His  foot,  hand,  and  eye  had,  unconscious 
to  himself,  been  trained  to  assist  him  in  such  a  march 
many  years  before  he  was  actually  enlisted  in  the 
militia.  Hunting  the  Indian  required  hardly  more 
wariness  and  prudence,  more  patience  and  indifference 
to  physical  exertion  than  hunting  the  wild  turkey  or 
the  wild  goose.  And  finally  the  hardy  Virginian  boy 
had  been  in  the  habit  of  riding  horses  without  any  emo- 
tion of  fear,  however  wild  they  might  be  in  spirit; 
indeed,  to  break  an  untamed  animal  was  an  occupation 
that  appealed  irresistibly  to  his  love  of  the  dangerous 
and  adventurous.  A  large  part  of  his  life  was  passed 
on  horseback,  and  if,  as  soon  as  he  reached  the  military 
age,  he  elected  to  become  a  member  of  a  cavalry  troop, 
he  at  once  showed  that  he  was  as  much  at  home  in  the 
saddle  as  the  oldest  and  most  daring  of  his  comrades. 
Hardened  by  constant  exposure  to  every  variety  of 
trying  weather;  accustomed  to  endure  every  form  of 

>  "Hunting  and  fowling,  most  of  them  are  most  excellent  marks- 
men"; Works  of  Captain  John  Smith,  vol.  ii.,  p.  258,  Richmond 
edition;  see  also  Beverley's  History  of  Virginia,  p.  218. 


Drill  and  Discipline  63 

physical  fatigue  in  the  open  air  in  the  pursuit  of  wild 
game;  trained  in  the  use  of  a  gun  so  far  as  to  become 
an  almost  unerring  marksman;  skilful  in  all  those 
sports  and  crafts  that  make  the  foot  surer,  the  hand 
steadier,  and  the  eye  more  certain;  and,  finally,  an 
accomplished  horseman, — the  Virginian  youth,  when 
the  hour  for  military  service  arrived,  took  his  place  in 
the  ranks  of  the  militia  with  all  those  aptitudes  already 
perfected  which  were  of  the  first  importance  for  a 
soldier  destined  to  engage  in  warfare  with  such  an 
enemy  as  the  Indian.  As  soon  as  there  was  added  a 
knowledge  of  the  military  drill  taught  in  those  times, 
a  young  militiaman  was  far  less  raw  than  would  be  a 
person  of  our  own  day  in  the  same  situation  who  had 
had  no  experience  of  actual  battle.  In  1676,  Nathaniel 
Bacon  declared  that  five  hundred"  Virginians  could 
defeat  one  thousand  English  regulars  merely  by  their 
extraordinary  skill  in  all  the  Indian  arts  of  defence  and 
attack^  and  this  boast  was  substantially  confirmed 
seventy-five  years  later  by  the  terrible  fate  which 
overwhelmed  the  unhappy  army  of  the  obstinate  and 
arrogant  Braddock.1 

From  the  foundation  of  the  first  settlement,  the 
Colony's  military  arm  was  trained  by  regular  military 
exercises;  the  soldiers  who  came  over  in  the  first  ex- 
pedition were,  soon  after  they  landed  on  Jamestown 
Island,  required  to  go  through  the  ordinary  drill;  and 

1  Bacon's  Conversation  with  Goode,  Colonial  Entry  Book, 
1676-77,  p.  232.  Bacon  declared  that,  should  he  be  defeated, 
he  would  retreat  to  an  island  in  the  Roanoke  River  remote  from  the 
settlements.  One  hundred  years  later,  that  greater  and  more 
successful  rebel,  George  Washington,  said  in  the  darkest  and  most 
critical  hour  of  the  Revolution,  that,  if  no  other  resource  were  left 
him,  he  would  retire  into  the  mountain  fastnesses  of  West  Augusta 
and  there  continue  the  struggle. 


64  The  Military  System 

this  was  afterwards  constantly  repeated.  During  the 
Presidency  of  Captain  John  Smith,  the  exercises  were 
performed  on  a  tract  of  level  ground  situated  near  the 
west  bulwark  and  known,  no  doubt  in  his  honor,  as 
Smithfield;  nor  were  these  exercises  confined  to  a 
drill ;  the  opportunity  was  seized  to  improve  the  soldiers' 
marksmanship,  especially  with  the  larger  guns.  Smith 
would  order  a  target  to  be  placed  against  a  tree  at  the 
edge  of  the  neighboring  forest,  and  at  this  the  firing 
would  be  directed  until  the  trunk,  greatly  to  the 
amazement  and  admiration  of  the  group  of  Indians, 
who  were  always  looking  on,  was  battered  to  pieces  by 
the  balls.1 

As  the  plantations  spread  out  more  widely,  all  the 
inhabitants  of  each  settlement  subject  to  military  duty 
were  carefully  exercised  in  arms  on  each  recurring  holy- 
day.2  So  important  was  this  considered  to  be  that, 
as  early  as  1629,  a  muster  master-general  was  appointed 
to  enforce  a  universal  observance  of  these  regulations; 
in  the  course  of  that  year,  Major  George  Donne,  who 
had  accompanied  Harvey  to  Virginia,  and  who  in 
the  beginning,  it  seems,  had  served  as  marshal,  was 
appointed  the  first  incumbent  of  the  position.  He 
returned  to  England  in  163 1  in  order  to  prosecute 
before  the  English  authorities  the  Councillors  most 
instrumental  in  deposing  that  Governor;  but  before 
twelve  months  had  passed,  he  was  in  the  Colony  again, 
and  in  the  full  enjoyment  of  the  two  offices  of  Muster- 
General  and  Marshal,  recently  confirmed  to  him  by 
the  royal  favor.3      About  1641,  Captain  John  West, 

»  Works  of  Captain  John  Smith,  vol.  i.,  pp.  152,  192,  Richmond 
edition. 

2  Ibid.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  258,  Richmond  edition. 

3  British  Colonial  Papers,  vol.  vi.,  1631-33,  No.  25. 


Drill  and  Discipline  65 

described  as  a  "gentleman  of  noble  quality,"  was 
nominated  to  the  office  through  the  influence  Sir  Francis 
Wyatt  possessed  in  England.  -The  Governor  had  no 
power  to  name  the  Muster-General,  and  Berkeley,  in 
the  instructions  which  he  received  when  he  first  went 
out  to  Virginia,  was  expressly  enjoined  not  to  assume 
the  right  to  make  the  appointment.1  This  officer  was, 
in  1639,  paid  for  the  performance  of  his  duties  three 
pounds  of  tobacco  for  every  tithable  entered  in  the 
Colony's  tax  list.  Captain  West's  salary,  on  the  other 
hand,  seems  to  have  been  fixed  at  the  round  sum  of 
ten  thousand  pounds  of  tobacco.2 

The  immediate  duty  of  seeing  that  the  militia  was 
properly  drilled  fell  upon  the  commander  of  each  dis- 
trict; and  in  the  beginning,  he  probably  took  the  princi- 
pal part  in  putting  each  troop  and  company  through 
the  different  branches  of  the  manual.3  Afterwards,  the 
captain s  were ,  perhaps ,  the  chief  drill  masters .  In  1 6  4  2 , 
the  commission  of  Francis  Yeardley,  of  Accomac,  as  a 
newly  appointed  captain  of  militia,  required  him  to 
exercise  his  company  at  least  once  a  month;  and  he 
was  also  ordered  to  report  the  name  of  every  person 
subject  to  military  duty  who  failed  to  attend  at  the 
chosen  time  and  place.4  About  ten  years  afterwards, 
a  notice  was  issued  by  the  commanding  officer  of 
Northampton  to  each  subordinate  officer  appointed 
for  a  separate  district,  and  to  every  enlisted  soldier, 
whether  of  the  foot  or  the  cavalry,  to  attend  a  general 
muster  to  be  held  the  following  January  on  Argoll 

1  Va.  Maga.  of  Hist,  and  Biog.,  vol.  viii.,  p.  389.  Colonial  Entry- 
Book,  1606-1662,  p.  228. 

2  Randolph  MS.,  vol.  iii.,  p.  230.  See  also  the  two  authorities 
immediately  preceding. 

3  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  i.,  p.  163. 

4  Accomac  County  Records,  vol.  1640-45,  p.  147,  Va.  St.  Libr. 

vol.  11-5 


66  The  Military  System 

Yeardley's  plantation  as  affording  the  most  convenient 
and  suitable  spot  for  martial  exercises.  The  officers 
were  directed  to  bring  with  them  their  accoutrements 
in  good  shape,  their  arms  fixed,  and  their  ammunition 
in  such  quantity  as  to  be  in  no  danger  of  falling  short.1 

Should  a  militiaman,  without  sufficient  excuse,  fail 
to  attend  a  muster,  he  was  liable  to  the  payment  of  a 
considerable  fine;  in  Accomac,  in  1664,  thirteen  persons 
were  mulcted  twenty  pounds  of  tobacco  apiece  for 
neglecting  to  be  present  at  a  meeting  of  this  kind  held 
in  the  county  in  April,  and  twenty-two  for  disobeying 
the  summons  to  be  present  at  another  held  in  August.2 
This  form  of  delinquency  prevailed  to  such  an  alarming 
degree  at  this  time  that  the  General  Assembly  increased 
the  penalty  to  one  hundred  pounds  of  tobacco,  and  in 
doing  so,  declared  that,  in  remaining  away  from  the 
military  exercises,  the  offenders  were  aiding  in  bringing 
about  the  "  ruin  of  all  military  discipline."3  With  a 
view  to  diminishing  the  expense  in  attending  these 
exercises,  the  county  courts  not  infrequently  required 
the  ferrymen  within  their  several  jurdisdictions  to 
transport  across  a  stream  free  of  charge  all  troopers 
(together  with  their  horses)  who  were  either  on  their 
way  to  be  present  at  a  muster,  or  were  returning  from 
one ;  and  this  exemption  extended  to  three  days,  namely, 
the  day  preceding  the  meeting,  the  day  on  which  it  was 
actually  held,  and  the  day  succeeding.4 

The  Easter,  Whitsuntide,  and  Christmas  holidays, 
should  the  state  of  the  weather  permit,  were,  in  1674, 
proclaimed  as  the  dates  on  which  the  muster  was  to 

1  Northampton  County  Records,  vol.  1651-54,  p.  80. 

2  Accomac  County  Records,  vol.  1663-66,  folio  p.  87. 

3  Randolph  MS.,  vol.  iii.,  p.  290-1;  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  ii., 
p.  246. 

*  Henricc  County  Records,  vol.  1688-97,  p.  18,  Va.  St.  Libr. 


Drill  and  Discipline  67 

take  place.1  Ten  years  later,  it  was  provided  by  an 
Act  of  Assembly  that  the  colonel  of  every  regiment 
should  summon  the  soldiers  under  his  command  to  meet 
for  military  exercises  at  some  convenient  place  regularly 
on  the  first  Thursday  in  October,  and  as  often  after- 
wards as  seemed  to  be  advisable.  In  the  intervals, 
however,  every  captain  of  horse  or  foot  was  required 
to  drill  his  troop  or  company  at  least  once  in  the  course 
of  every  three  months.2  As  it  was  soon  found  that  the 
appointment  of  the  same  date  for  the  general  muster 
in  all  the  counties  occasioned  inconvenience,  each 
county  was  directed  to  name  a  different  day  for  its 
own  annual  military  exercises.3  The  same  regulation 
was  in  force  at  the  end  of  the  century;  once  a  year,  a 
general  muster  of  the  militia  was  held  in  each  county, 
whilst  a  special  muster  for  each  troop  or  company  was 
held  at  least  four  times  during  the  same  interval.4 

There  is  no  reason  to  think  that  the  drill  enforced  at 
these  musters  was  less  thorough  than  the  one  which,  at 
this  time,  was  enforced  in  England  in  the  same  branch 
of  the  military  service.  The  character  of  the  respective 
exercises  was,  no  doubt,  substantially  alike.  During 
the  century,  there  were  so  many  citizens  of  Virginia  who 
had  left  the  Mother  Country  long  after  they  had  reached 
manhood  that  some  among  those  residing  in  each 
county  must  have  learned  the  manual  of  these  exercises 
by  acting  as  petty  officers  before  they  emigrated.  But 
even  if  the  men  who  had  enjoyed  such  a  practical 
experience  were  comparatively  few  in  number,  the  prin- 
cipal officers  of  the  Virginian  militia  were  of  sufficient 

•  General  Court  Records,  vol.  1670-76,  p.  197. 

2  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  iii.,  p.  14. 

3  Colonial  Entry  Book,  vol.  1680-95,  p.  208. 

4  Beverley's  History  of  Virginia,  p.  218. 


68  The  Military  System 

intelligence  to  acquire  by  study  a  full  knowledge  of 
every  detail  of  the  English  system  of  drill. 

This  drill,  however,  was  not  under  all  circumstances 
as  useful  to  the  colonial  soldier  of  that  day  as  to  the 
European.  Accustomed  to  the  formal  warfare  of  the 
Old  World,  the  British  regulars  sent  to  America  during 
the  great  struggle  for  the  possession  of  Canada  in  the 
next  century  were  inclined  to  contemn  and  deride  the 
colonial  militia  for  their  supposed  timidity ;  but  conduct 
so  arrogantly  denounced  as  cowardice  was  really  a  wary 
irregularity  of  movement  which  a  long  course  of  fighting 
with  the  Indians  had  made  almost  traditional  with  the 
American  militiaman.  It  was  from  behind  stone  walls 
that  the  first  blood  of  the  Revolution  was  drawn  on  the 
highway  leading  from  Concord  and  Lexington  to  Boston; 
and  it  was  from  behind  trees  and  boulders  that  the  most 
memorable  battle  in  the  South,  that  of  King's  Mountain 
was  won.  These  very  men  did  not  shrink  from  facing 
the  enemy  openly  in  an  hundred  other  battles  and 
skirmishes,  but  the  lessons  learned  either  by  them- 
selves or  their  fathers  in  combats  with  the  Indian  foe 
had  taught  them  the  wisdom  of  using  every  inch  of 
shelter  should  there  be  any  available. 

This  was  the  spirit  of  the  Virginian  militiamen 
during  the  Seventeenth  century,  and  as  nearly  all 
their  wars  were  with  the  savages,  they  had  little  room 
for  the  display  of  that  military  precision  which  it  is  one 
of  the  first  objects  of  the  military  drill  to  inculcate. 
The  first  movement  of  a  company  set  upon  in  the 
forest  by  the  Indians  (and  it  was  only  in  the  forest 
that  the  Indians  generally  made  an  attack  at  all), 
was  to  scatter  in  order  to  shield  their  persons  with 
boulders  and  the  trunks  of  trees;  each  soldier  acted 
separately,  and  relied  in  chief  measure  on  himself  alone 


Drill  and  Discipline  69 

for  the  destruction  of  the  savage  directly  opposed  to 
him.  Such  a  battle  would  often  last  for  many  hours, 
and  be  terminated  not  even  by  the  fall  of  night.1  Not 
until  the  enemy  had  been  finally  compelled  to  retire 
would  the  troops  again  resume  something  of  the  order 
and  regularity  of  a  trained  force  on  the  march.  No 
doubt,  in  the  muster  exercises,  the  peculiarities  of  this 
warfare,  in  which  the  militia  were  certain  to  be  employed, 
were  constantly  borne  in  mind  by  the  officers,  and  the 
drill,  so  far  as  possible,  adapted  to  its  extraordinary 
features. 

Under  no  circumstances,  however,  was  it  more  im- 
perative to  enforce  strict  military  discipline  than  during 
such  warfare  if  the  designs  of  the  most  patient,  alert, 
and  cunning  of  all  foes  were  to  be  disconcerted.  The 
military  code  formulated  by  the  General  Assembly 
in  1675-6  seems  to  have  been,  in  some  of  its  sections, 
as  severe  as  the  martial  laws  of  Dale.  A  case  of 
drunkenness  repeated  three  times  was  punished  by 
forcing  the  guilty  soldier  to  ride  the  wooden  horse,  a 
very  uncomfortable  and  ignominious  seat;  and  when 
found  intoxicated  at  his  post,  he  was  liable  to  the 
penalty  of  death.  Should  he,  whether  drunk  or  sober, 
lift  his  hand  against  an  officer,  he  was  to  suffer  the  loss 
of  that  member;  and  if  it  was  a  weapon  and  not  his 
hand  which  he  had  raised,  then  he  was  to  be  shot  by  a 
file  of  his  own  troop  or  company.  The  same  extreme 
sentence  was  to  be  imposed  whenever  such  a  menace 
ended  with  a  blow  that  did  personal  harm  to  the  officer; 
and  he  was  also  to  undergo  the  like  penalty  should  he 
attempt  to  rescue  a  comrade  from  the  punishment 
about  to  be  inflicted  for  some  offence.     If  the  soldier 

«  One  of  the  most  typical  of  these  battles  was  that  of  Point 
Pleasant,  which  was  fought  chiefly  in  this  manner. 


70  The  Military  System 

happened  to  be  absent  when  the  watch  was  set,  he  was 
compelled  to  bestride  the  wooden  horse  and  to  remain 
there  for  several  hours;  and  he  was  also  punished 
severely  should  he,  while  marching,  make  such  a  noise 
as  to  prevent  the  word  of  command  from  being  promptly 
and  generally  heard.  The  penalty  was  death  should 
he  allow  himself  to  fall  asleep  while  performing  a 
sentinel's  duties,  or  should  he  show  cowardice  by 
deserting  his  colors,  or  treachery  by  giving  intelligence 
to  the  enemy. 

As  warfare  in  the  Colony  was  generally  attended 
with  extraordinary  hardships  and  deprivations,  owing 
to  the  length  of  the  march  through  the  forest  wilderness, 
the  regulations  to  prevent  the  expression  of  discontent 
for  any  cause  were  peculiarly  strict.  Should  the  soldier, 
for  instance,  show  dissatisfaction  with  his  imperfect 
shelter  from  the  weather  while  stationed  in  camp,  or 
should  he  criticise  the  quality  of  the  provisions  served 
to  him  in  the  same  situation,  he  was  to  be  arrested  and 
treated  as  a  mutineer.  Equally  severe  was  the  punish- 
ment which  he  brought  upon  himself,  should  he  venture 
to  sell,  pawn,  or  embezzle  his  guns  and  ammunition, 
or  in  the  same  illicit  manner  to  dispose  of  his  sword, 
axes,  and  spades.1 

i  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  ii.,  p.  333. 


CHAPTER  VI 
Indian  Wars:  Popular  Apprehension 

THERE  were  three  great  military  events  which 
might  occur  at  any  time  to  bring  about  a  serious 
disturbance  of  the  peace  of  the  Colony:  these 
were,  first,  an  Indian  incursion;  secondly,  an  attack 
from  the  sea  by  a  foreign  enemy ;  and  thirdly,  internal 
rebellion.  It  was  to  ensure  the  community  protection 
against  the  indescribable  calamities  likely  to  accompany 
any  one  of  these  events  that  so  many  measures  were, 
from  decade  to  decade,  adopted  to  keep  the  militia  on 
a  footing  of  efficiency;  that  they  were  organized  in  a 
thoroughly  martial  manner;  that  they  were  drilled 
with  such  constant  regularity;  and  that  they  were 
compelled  to  submit  to  the  strictest  military  regulations 
during  the  time  they  were  stationed  in  camp,  or  engaged 
on  the  march. 

Of  the  three  great  events  which  aroused  the  people's 
apprehensions  in  the  highest  degree,  perhaps  the  one 
most  dreaded,  although  it  was  the  one  taking  place 
most  frequently,  was  the  Indian  incursion.  From  the 
foundation  of  the  earliest  settlement  to  the  last  hour  of 
the  Seventeenth  century,  the  gleam  of  the  Indian  toma- 
hawk, the  flash  of  the  Indian  scalping  knife,  and  the 
red  flame  of  the  Indian  torch,  were  ever  casting  a 
shadow  across  the  hearts  of  some  section  of  the  people 
of  the  Colony.     There  was  always  a  frontier,  and  the 

71 


72  The  Military  System 

inhabitants  of  the  frontier  were  always  in  danger. 
Throughout  this  long  period,  there  passed  but  one  brief 
span  of  years  in  which  the  fears  of  all  the  settlers  were 
quieted,  and  from  this  state  of  delusive  confidence,  they 
were  awakened  by  the  shock  of  one  of  the  most  terrible 
butcheries  recorded  in  American  history.  The  massacre 
of  1622,  in  which  so  great  a  proportion  of  Virginia's 
population  perished,  was  all  the  more  appalling  because 
it  fell  with  entire  unexpectedness;  from  that  hour,  the 
colonists  lost  all  faith  in  the  peaceful  disposition  of  their 
Indian  neighbors  unless  they  had  been  reduced  to 
numerical  insignificance,  or  were  overawed  by  a  con- 
stant show  of  force.  The  massacre  of  1644,  which  fell 
chiefly  on  the  outlying  plantations,  only  confirmed 
this  feeling  of  suspicion  and  apprehension 

The  distrust  which  sprang  up  after  1622,  and  which 
never  really  died  out,  found  expression  in  many  ways. 
Among  the  instructions  given  to  Governor  Yeardley 
in  1626  was  one  requiring  him  to  prevent  every  house- 
holder from  admitting  an  Indian  to  his  residence; 
and  also  to  allow  no  settler  to  converse,  play,  or  even 
trade  with  the  savages  unless  he  had  procured  a  special 
license  to  do  so.1  The  lapse  of  time  did  not,  in  the 
colonists'  minds,  diminish  the  necessity  for  such 
extraordinary  prudence.  Twelve  years  after  the 
massacre  of  1622  occurred,  Governor  Harvey,  in  a  letter 
to  the  Privy  Council,  stated  that,  although  the  neigh- 
boring tribes  were,  at  that  time,  on  "  fair  terms  "  with 
the  planters,  yet  they  were  always  to  be  doubted ;  and 
that  the  precautions .  taken  for  resisting  an  outbreak 
could  never  be  relaxed,  as  it  might  come  at  any  hour.2 
And  when  the  outbreak  did  come,  the  strain  of  the 

1  Instructions  to  Yeardley,  Robinson  Transcripts,  p.  47. 

2  British  Colonial  Papers,  vol.  viii.,  1634-5,  No.  3. 


Indian  Wars :  Popular  Apprehension     73 

previous  apprehension  made  the  manner  of  punishing 
the  savages  all  the  more  sweeping  and  relentless.  As 
soon  as  war  was  declared,  it  was  necessary  for  the 
colonists  to  carry  hostilities  (to  quote  Colonel  Scar- 
borough's words  in  1659)  "into  the  heart  of  the  ene- 
my's country,  so  that  they  might  neither  plant  corne, 
hunt,  nor  fish."1  It  was  only  when  they  were  deci- 
mated by  the  sword,  driven  to  the  remote  backwoods, 
or  reduced  to  starvation,  that  the  thirst  of  such  a  foe 
for  the  blood  of  the  English  could,  it  was  supposed,  be 
repressed  even  for  a  time. 

Even  when  the  tribes  on  the  frontier  had  been  harried 
into  submissiveness,  the  danger  of  an  attack  by  the 
savages  living  far  beyond  the  borders  of  Virginia  rose, 
like  the  phantom  of  a  fevered  brain,  to  disturb  the 
quietude  of  the  colonists.  In  a  letter  addressed  by 
Nicholas  Spencer,  in  1683,  to  Jenkins,  the  English 
Secretary-of -State,  he  urged  that  the  conquered  Indians 
occupying  the  county  adjacent  to  the  outlying  planta- 
tions should  be  systematically  conciliated,  as  they 
formed,  so  long  as  their  goodwill  was  retained,  a 
barrier  against  the  incursions  of  the  more  distant  tribes 
of  the  North  and  West.2  The  importance  of  the  part 
which  they  could  play  in  this  character  was  so  clearly 
understood  at  this  time  that  it  had  become  the  General 
Assembly's  settled  policy  to  combine  several  of  these 
so-called  friendly  tribes,  and  to  supply  them  with  arms 
and  ammunition  so  as  to  enable  them  to  beat  back, 
or  at  least  to  check,  any  band  of  warriors  who  might 
attempt  to  steal  across  the  frontiers  to  attack  the  white 
settlements,   annually  spreading  further  and  further 

•  Letter  to  Governor  Fendall  of  Maryland,  Aug.  28,  1659,  Rob- 
inson Transcripts,  p.  268. 

2  British  Colonial  Papers,  vol.  Hi.,  No.  64. 


74  The  Military  System 

westward.  They  served  as  outposts  upon  the  borders. 
When,  in  1690,  it  was  reported  far  and  wide  that  the 
Five  Nations,  the  most  powerful  Indian  Confederacy 
of  those  times,  were  about  to  descend  through  *  the 
trackless  forests,  and,  by  force  of  their  extraordinary 
numbers,  thrust  themselves  into  the  very  heart  of  the 
Colony,  interpreters  were  at  once  sent  to  the  submissive 
tribes  residing  in  the  outlying  country  to  instruct  them 
that,  should  the  emissaries  of  the  terrible  Iroquois 
approach  them  for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  their  aid 
in  the  proposed  incursion,  they  must  announce  that 
they  were  under  the  Virginian  Government's  protection, 
and  promptly  inform  that  Government  of  the  enemy's 
designs.1 

Several  of  the  greatest  commotions  occurring  in 
the  Colony  in  consequence  of  this  fear  of  an  Indian 
invasion  were  caused  by  the  friendly  tribes  themselves, 
when,  as  it  turned  out,  there  was  no  reason  for  creating 
an  alarm.  The  whole  county  of  Stafford,  was,  in  1691, 
thrown  into  a  state  of  great  agitation  by  a  report 
spread  among  the  people  by  these  allies,  that  a  band  of 
savage  warriors,  belonging  to  remote  nations,  were  on 
their  way  to  attack  them.  So  extraordinary  was  the 
disturbance  produced  by  such  reports,  and  so  often 
were  they  proven  to  be  baseless,  that  the  county  court 
of  York,  the  same  year,  passed  an  order  that,  whenever 
an  Indian  brought  news  of  the  approach  of  a  hostile 
force  of  his  own  race,  he  was  to  be  held  until  it  could 
be  shown  whether  or  not  he  had  any  real  ground  for 
making  such  an  announcement;  and  if  it  was  disclosed 
that  he  was  merely  spreading  an  idle  rumor,  he  was 
to  be  severely  punished.2     A  few  months  later,  an 

»  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1680-95,  P-  35^- 

2  York  County  Records,  vol.  1690-94,  p.  142,  Va.  St.  Libr. 


Indian  Wars  :  Popular  Apprehension     75 

Indian,  who  appeared  in  New  Kent,  declared  in  public 
at  many  places  that  a  strange  nation  towards  the  West 
were  preparing  to  fall  upon  the  Colony  and  destroy  all 
its  inhabitants.  Information  of  his  alarming  words 
coming  to  the  ears  of  the  justices  of  the  county,  they 
sent  the  sheriff  to  arrest  him,  and  by  this  officer,  and 
accompanied  by  an  interpreter,  he  was  conveyed  to 
Jamestown  in  order  to  recite  his  story  to  the  Governor. * 
But  perhaps  the  most  remarkable  proof  of  the 
constancy  and  depth  of  the  apprehension  of  Indian 
invasion  prevailing  in  the  popular  mind  long  after  the 
neighboring  tribes  had  been  reduced  to  submission  was 
the  fact  that,  for  some  years,  it  was  the  Virginian 
authorities'  habit  to  despatch  a  special  messenger  to 
New  York  and  New  England  to  obtain  the  latest 
information  as  to  the  movements  of  the  French  and 
Northern  Indians,  who  were  known  to  be  acting  in 
concert;  such  information,  it  was  declared,  would 
enable  the  Government  of  Virginia  to  adopt  defensive 
measures  at  once  whenever  there  was  the  slightest 
danger  of  an  early  attack  from  that  remote  quarter.2 
As  the  friendly  tribes  might  at  any  time  be  seduced 
by  emissaries  of  this  powerful  combination,  even  they 
were  regarded  with  suspicion;  those  planters  who 
resided  nearest  to  them  were  required  to  keep  a  vigilant 
eye  on  their  conduct ;  and  should  there  be  any  reason  to 
doubt  their  goodwill,  it  was  to  be  promptly  reported  to 
the  county  justices  with  a  view  to  an  immediate  in- 
vestigation. In  1699,  the  Emperor  of  Piscata way's 
actions  having  given  rise  to  some  uneasiness  in  Henrico, 
in  order  to  find  out  whether  this  feeling  was  justified 

1  Minutes  of  Council,  Aug.  16,  1692,    B.  T.  Va.,  1692,  No.  123. 

2  Minutes  of  Assembly,  April   13,   1692,  Colonial  Entry  Book, 
1682-95.     John  Perry  served  as  the  Colony's  agent  in  1692. 


76  The  Military  System 

or  not,  the  testimony  of  many  prominent  citizens  who 
had  had  opportunities  of  observing  this  King  and  his 
tribe,  was  taken,  with  the  result  that  they  were  not 
molested. * 

It  was  a  very  natural  impulse  which  led  the  colonists 
to  look  upon  an  Indian  incursion  with  extraordinary 
horror;  for  in  all  recorded  history  there  has  perhaps 
never  been  a  foe  who  carried  on  hostilities  in  a  spirit  of 
greater  ferocity  than  the  American  savage  of  this  period. 
The  atrocities  committed  by  him  were  committed  in  a 
manner  so  original  and  so  peculiar  as  to  impart,  if 
possible,  a  more  aggravated  cruelty  to  them;  it  was  not 
merely  that  he  slew  his  enemy,  however  innocent  or 
helpless,  in  the  spirit  of  an  inhuman  ogre,  but  the 
prolonged  tortures,  suggested  by  a  demoniacal  ingenuity, 
which  he  loved  to  inflict,  and  the  glee  with  which  he 
gloated  over  his  victim's  agony, — all  gave  to  a  war  with 
his  race  the  very  blackest  aspect  assumable  by  war.  It 
was  a  war  in  which  no  mercy  was  asked  or  granted ;  a 
war  softened  by  no  touch  of  amenity,  even  at  long  in- 
tervals; a  war  in  which  women  and  children  ran  the  same 
risk  of  destruction  as  the  fighting  man,  and  in  a  manner 
equally  revolting  and  pitiless  There  was  many  a  tree 
on  the  frontiers  stained  with  the  blood  of  a  white  infant 
whose  brains  had  been  dashed  out  against  the  trunk; 

•  Henrico  County  Records,  Orders  April  i,  1699.  According  to 
Governor  Andros,  the  Indians  surviving  in  Virginia  were,  in  1697, 
composed  of  the  following  number  of  nations  and  bowmen:  on 
the  Eastern  Shore,  nine  small  nations,  having  about  one  hundred 
bowmen ;  south  of  James  River,  four,  having  one  hundred  and  sixty 
bowmen;  on  the  York  River,  three,  having  fifty  bowmen;  on  the 
Rappahannock,  two,  having  forty  bowmen;  on  the  Potomac,  one, 
having  twelve  bowmen;  B.  T.  Va.,  1697,  vol.  vi.,  p.  75.  These 
different  remnants  of  the  Powhatan  Confederacy  paid  an  annual 
tribute  in  the  form  of  beaver  and  deer  skins;  see  B.  T.  Va.,  1699, 
vol.  vii.,  p.  243. 


Indian  Wars  :  Popular  Apprehension     77 

and  there  was  many  a  wigwam  adorned  with  scalps 
whose  faded  tresses  swept  the  floor.  It  was  the  recol- 
lection of  such  facts  as  these  that  filled  the  hearts  of 
so  many  of  the  colonists  with  anguish  and  bitterness, 
and  made  them  hunt  down  the  Indians  as  the  most 
ferocious  of  all  the  wild  beasts  roaming  the  primaeval 
forests. 

The  feeling. of  horror  was  made  more  intense  by  the 
noiselessness  with  which  the  enemy  moved,  the  care 
with  which  they  hid  their  tracks,  the  suddenness  with 
which  they  appeared  at  unexpected  points.  The 
wildness  of  the  Indian's  physical  aspect  also  added  to 
this  horror, — his  naked  and  painted  skin;  his  sinewy 
frame,  as  lithe  and  active  as  that  of  a  panther  or  wild 
cat;  his  hawk-like  eye;  his  scream  of  triumph,  which 
curdled  the  blood  far  more  than  the  cry  of  some  fierce 
wild  animal  at  midnight.  The  very  image  of  the 
terrible  creature  stamped  itself  upon  the  imagination 
like  some  menacing  figure  conjured  up  from  the  region 
of  devils.  Well  might  the  mother  clasp  her  child  to  her 
bosom  when  the  news  came  that  such  an  enemy  as  this 
had  been  seen  upon  the  frontier,  and  well  might  the 
father's  cheek  grow  pale  as  he  took  down  his  gun  from 
the  wall.  Among  the  most  ordinary  subjects  of  con- 
versation by  the  fireside  of  many  a  home  in  the  long 
winter  nights  were  the  fearful  incidents  which  had 
occurred  during  previous  Indian  wars  as  illustrating 
the  fierceness,  the  treachery,  or  the  cunning  of  the 
savage,  until  he  came  to  be  regarded  as  the  very  con- 
summation of  all  that  the  world  had  to  offer  of  cruelty 
the  most  atrocious,  and  of  blood  thirstiness  the  most 
appalling  and  unquenchable. 


CHAPTER  VII 
Indian  Wars:  Marches 

IT  can  be  well  understood  that  this  constant  feeling 
of  apprehension, — this  profound  sense  of  the 
unspeakable  ferocity  of  the  Indian's  instincts,— 
would  have  led  the  colonists,  from  time  to  time,  to 
adopt  the  most  active  measures  to  protect  themselves 
from  attack.  From  a  very  early  date  in  their  history, 
the  special  expedition,  or  march  as  it  was  known  at 
that  period,  was  looked  upon  as  the  most  effective  means 
of  breaking  the  power  of  the  Indian  tribes.  After  the 
massacre  of  1622,  a  carefully  organized  and  determined 
attempt  was  made  to  wipe  from  the  face  of  the  earth 
the  savages  occupying  the  villages  in  the  neighborhood 
of  the  different  white  settlements.  The  troops,  how- 
ever, were  not  sent  out  until  the  following  summer, 
as  it  was  hoped  that,  by  cutting  down  the  corn  at  a  late 
stage  in  its  growth,  all  those  Indians  who  did  not  fall 
before  the  gun  would  perish  by  starvation.  Beyond 
the  destruction  of  the  crops,  there  seems  to  have  been 
but  small  success  to  report,  as  the  savages  were  too 
light  and  swift  to  be  overtaken  by  soldiers  heavily 
encumbered  in  their  movements  by  their  armor.  The 
English,  in  their  disappointment,  described  the  Indian's 
elusive  tactics  as  a  subterfuge  of  cowardice;  but  they 
were  soon  to  learn  that  the  only  way  to  break  the 
force  of  these  tactics  was  to  meet  Indian  wiles  with  wiles 

78 


Indian  Wars  :  Marches  79 

equally  subtle  and  cunning.1  The  officers  assigned  to 
command  of  the  several  detachments  sent  out  to 
exterminate  the  savages  in  1622  were  Captains  William 
Pierce,  William  Tucker,  and  Samuel  Mathews;  the  first 
led  the  expedition  against  the  Chickahominies,  the 
second  against  the  Nansemonds  and  Warrosquoicks, 
and  the  third  against  the  Wyanokes.  A  short  time 
after  these  expeditions  returned,  Captain  Tucker  led 
a  second  one  against  the  Nansemonds,  and  Captain 
Isaac  Madison  one  against  the  great  Wyanokes.2 

Governor  Wyatt,  writing  to  the  Privy  Council  in 
1626,  declared  that  the  Indians  could  not  be  finally 
suppressed  until  five  hundred  English  regulars  were  sent 
out  to  the  Colony  annually  for  a  period  of  several  years 
fully  provided  with  victual,  apparel,  tools,  arms,  and 
munition.  But  it  is  very  doubtful  whether  such  troops 
would  have  proved  so  valuable  for  that  purpose  as  men 
who,  by  having  resided  for  a  long  time  in  Virginia,  had 
become  accustomed  to  the  peculiarities  of  such  war- 
fare.3 Wyatt' s  suggestion  received  no  encouragement, 
and  the  expeditionary  forces  continued  to  be  composed 
of  the  militia.  The  year  after  he  wrote  to  the  Privy 
Council,    several    detachments,    starting    in    different 

1  Works  of  Captain  John  Smith,  vol.  ii.,  p.  84,  Richmond  edition. 
Smith  said  of  the  Indians:  "They  have  much  advantage  over  us 
though  they  be  cowards. "  More  than  a  century  later,  the  officers 
of  Braddock's  army  were  only  too  quick  to  charge  the  Provincials 
with  the  same  quality  because  the  latter  wished  to  adopt  the 
Indian  manner  of  warfare  as  they  approached  Fort  Duquesne. 
Had  their  advice  been  followed,  the  battle  would  not  have  ended 
in  disaster. 

2  Randolph  MS.,  vol.  iii.,  p.  173. 

3  British  Colonial  Papers,  vol.  iv.,  1626-7,  No.  9.  In  1678, 
Culpeper  recommended  that  three  companies  of  regulars  should 
always  be  kept  in  Virginia  to  resist  Indian  invasion ;  Colonial  Entry 
Book,  1676-81,  p.  258. 


So  The  Military  System 

directions,  fell  upon  all  the  Indian  towns  on  the  same 
day,  and  at  a  season  when  the  corn,  having  been  once 
destroyed,  could  not  be  replaced  by  a  second  planting. 
The  troops  engaged  in  this  march  were  drawn  from 
every  part  of  the  Colony,  but  their  enlistment  for  the 
purpose  seems  to  have  been  purely  voluntary.  Captain 
Samuel  Mathews  was  assigned  to  the  command  of  the 
expedition  against  the  seat  of  the  Pamunkeys,  the  most 
important  tribe  at  this  time  to  be  found  in  Virginia.1 
So  great  was  the  alarm  caused  two  years  later  by  the 
Indians'  presence  that  the  country  was  divided  into 
four  districts,  the  inhabitants  of  each  of  which  were 
annually  required  to  set  on  foot  an  expedition  against 
the  savages  in  March,  July,  and  November  respectively.2 
The  allowances  embraced  in  the  public  levy  for  1629 
show  that,  not  only  food  and  ammunition,  but  also 
spirits  were  provided  for  the  soldiers  in  these  early 
marches.  Among  the  different  military  expenses 
covered  by  this  levy  was  sometimes  included  the  cost 
of  a  barrel  of  wine.  To  meet  these  expenses,  it  was 
found  necessary  to  impose  a  special  tax  of  five 
pounds  of  tobacco  upon  every  tithable  listed  in  the 
Colony.3  Some  years  afterwards,  certain  citizens  of 
Lower  Norfolk  were  required  to  pay  for  the  buff  coats 
which  Cornelius  Lloyd  had  furnished  for  the  soldiers 
employed  in  a  recent  march  against  the  Nanticokes; 
the  outlay  for  each  coat  was  borne  by  the  persons 
compelled  by  law  to  send  out  the  soldier  who  had  worn 
it ,  and  xnese  persons  were  ordered  by  the  county  court 
to  deliver  to  Captain  John  Sibsey  at  his  house  two 
hundred  and  fifty  pounds  of  tobacco,  the  price  fixed 

1  Robinson  Transcripts,  pp.  66,  70. 

2  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  i.,  p.  140;  Randolph  MS.,  vol.  iii.,  p.  213. 

3  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  i.,  p.  143. 


Indian  Wars :  Marches  81 

for  each  coat.1  At  a  later  date  still,  twenty  persons  in 
the  same  county  were  held  liable  for  biscuit  supplied  to 
the  soldier  equipped  by  them  for  an  Indian  campaign.2 
In  these  last  cases,  it  is  probable  that  all  the  troops 
taking  part  in  the  march  had  been  raised  in  Lower 
Norfolk  alone. 

t  In  1 63 1,  the  General  Assembly  having  proclaimed 
the  Indians  to  be  the  colonists'  "  irreconcilable  enemies, " 
ordered  the  military  commander  of  every  district  to 
fall  upon  the  tribe  seated  nearest  him  on  the  smallest 
provocation.3  About  thirteen  years  afterwards,  a 
march,  in  which  many  soldiers  participated,  was  made 
against  the  towns  of  the  Pamunkeys  and  Chickahom- 
inies.  It  was  attended  by  such  an  unusual  number 
of  casualties  that  public  steps  had  to  be  taken  to  assure 
relief  for  the  persons  so  entirely  disabled  by  their 
wounds  and  sufferings  that  they  had  lost  the  power 
of  earning  their  own  subsistence: — each  county  was 
required  to  provide  for  all  its  own  soldiers  left  in  this 
helpless  condition ;  and  also  to  remunerate  any  one  who 
had  furnished  them  in  the  march  with  medical  service, 
or  had  supplied  them  with  food  for  consumption,  or 
boats  for  transportation.4  The  charges  entailed  by  this 
expedition  were  extraordinarily  heavy;  and  in  order 
to  raise  the  fund  necessary  to  meet  them,  a  special  tax 
of  six  pounds  of  tobacco  was  imposed  upon  every 

»  Lc~Ter  Norfolk  County  Records,  Orders  March  2,  1639. 

2  Ibid.,  Orders  April  12,  1641. 

3  Randolph  MS.,  vol.  iii.,  p.  218. 

*  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  i.,  pp.  285,  287,  311.  Pensions  were 
granted  by  special  Acts  of  the  General  Assembly.  In  1680,  for 
instance,  William  Chapman,  of  Gloucester  county,  was  the  bene- 
ficiary of  such  an  Act  allowing  him  a  thousand  pounds  of  tobacco 
per  annum  ' '  during  his  impotency  and  lameness  got  in  the  service 
of  the  country";  Orders  of  Assembly  for  1680,  B.  T.  Va. 

vol.  11-6 


82  The  Military  System 

tithable  person  residing  in  James  City,  York,  Warwick, 
Elizabeth  City,  Northampton,  Lower  Norfolk,  and  Isle 
of  Wight,  the  counties  which  were  most  exposed  to 
attack.1 

In  February,  1644-5,  the  Assembly  having  decided 
to  send  out  a  strong  expedition  against  the  neighboring 
Indians,  a  general  law  was  passed  requiring  every 
fifteen  tithables  residing  on  the  northern  side  of  James 
River  to  furnish  and  maintain  one  soldier  chosen 
from  among  themselves ;  and  should  they  fail  to  make 
a  selection,  the  military  authorities  were  to  impress 
any  one  of  the  fifteen  they  saw  fit.  This  soldier's  wages 
were  to  be  paid  by  the  remaining  fourteen ;  provisions 
also  were  to  be  supplied  him  at  their  cost ;  and  should 
he,  during  the  progress  of  the  campaign,  be  wounded, 
they  were  to  bear  the  expense  of  the. medical  services 
necessary  to  his  cure.2 

Groups  of  counties  now  united  to  form  a  military 
association  subject  to  the  supervision  of  a  council  of 
war3 ;  and  these  counties  undertook  to  send  out  special 
expeditions  on  separate  marches  against  the  savages. 
In  1645,  the  year  following  the  one  made  memorable 
by  the  second  great  massacre,  Isle  of  Wight  and  Upper 
and  Lower  Norfolk  together  equipped  a  company  of 
eighty  picked  men,  who  proceeded  as  far  southward 
into  the  heart  of  the  enemy's  country  as  the  remote 
valley  of  the  Roanoke.  The  expenses  of  this  march, 
passed  upon  and  allowed  by  the  council  of  war  appointed 
for  these  three  associated  counties,  amounted  to  about 
thirty-eight  thousand  pounds  of  tobacco,  a  very  large 

1  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  i.,  p.  287. 

2  Ibid.,  vol.  i.,  p.  2Q2. 

3  The  plan  of  groups  of  counties  associating  themselves  for  mili- 
tary purposes  was  adopted  from  England. 


Indian  Wars  :  Marches  83 

sum  in  these  early  times.  Among  the  items  of  the 
account  were  charges  for  the  hire  of  boats,  for  the  pur- 
chase of  provisions,  powder,  and  shot,  and  for  the  pay- 
ment of  the  surgeons'  salaries.  The  soldiers'  wages 
alone  were  estimated  at  eight  thousand  pounds  of 
tobacco.  Those  among  them  who  suffered  casualties 
also  received  a  special  compensation;  for  instance,  one 
bitten  by  a  venomous  snake  was  allowed  eight  hundred 
pounds.  In  order  to  raise  the  fund  to  meet  all  these 
expenses,  a  tax  of  twenty-eight  pounds  of  the  same 
commodity  was  imposed  on  each  tithable  residing  in 
Lower  Norfolk,  and  thirty-one  on  each  residing  in  Isle 
of  Wight  and  Upper  Norfolk.  The  assessment  was 
heavier  in  the  latter  two  counties  because  their  con- 
tingent had  consumed  a  larger  quantity  of  the  victual 
provided  for  the  march.  The  council  of  war  was 
composed  of  the  eight  citizens  of  the  three  who  had 
had  most  experience  of  military  affairs.1  Such  was  the 
character  of  all  the  men  forming  the  council  of  war  for 
each  group  of  associated  counties ;  and,  in  an  emergency, 
they  were  impowered  to  call  together  as  large  a  body  of 
militia,  and  to  impress  as  great  a  quantity  of  ammuni- 
tion and  arms,  as  they  considered  necessary  for  the 
protection  of  the  plantations  within  the  bounds  of  their 
respective  districts.2 

In  the   following   year   (1646),   there   was  another 

1  Lower  Norfolk  County  Records,  Orders  Oct.  15,  1645.  The 
members  of  the  council  of  war  for  Lower  Norfolk,  Isle  of  Wight 
and  Upper  Norfolk  were  Capts.  Thomas  Willoughby,  John  Sibsey, 
Edward  Wyndham,  Thomas  Dewes,  Richard  Bennett,  Richard 
Preston,  Anthony  Jones,  and  Francis  Hough.  The  surgeons  of 
the  expedition  were  Thomas  Ward  and  Christopher  Atherley;  see 
Lower  Norfolk  County  Orders  Nov.  3,  1645. 

2  The  Council  of  war  included  ex  officio  the  commanders  and 
deputy-commanders  of  the  associated  counties;  see  Hening's 
Statutes,  vol.  i.,  p.  292. 


84  The  Military  System 

important  march  made  against  the  Indians;  and  in 
order  to  obtain  the  necessary  number  of  troops,  it 
was  provided  by  law  that  the  counties  lying  on  the 
north  side  of  James  River  should  raise  at  least  sixty 
men,  who,  under  Lieutenant  Francis  Poythress'  com- 
mand, were  to  repair  to  the  rendezvous  appointed  at 
Kikotan.  Cornelius  Lloyd  and  Anthony  Elliott  con- 
tracted to  supply  the  soldiers  volunteering  for  this 
expedition,  with  twenty-five  hundred  and  twenty 
pounds  of  beef  and  pork,  salted  and  packed  in  barrels; 
the  same  number  of  pounds  of  bread  and  sifted  meal ; 
or  as  a  substitute,  forty  bushels  of  peas  stored  in  casks 
for  transportation.  The  compensation  they  were  to 
receive  was  fixed  at  fifteen  thousand  pounds  of  tobacco, 
to  be  paid  by  a  public  assessment.  Captain  Henry 
Fleet,  in  return  for  the  same  amount  of  tobacco,  offered 
to  furnish  boats,  with  men  to  manage  them,  victuals, 
nails,  axes,  hoes,  spades,  three  hundred  pounds  of 
powder  and  twelve  hundred  pounds  of  shot  or  bullets. l 
The  plan  adopted  in  York  to  save  the  soldiers  engaged 
in  this  march  from  the  loss  which  would  have  resulted 
to  them  had  their  crops,  during  their  absence,  been  left 
unworked  and  unprotected,  was  perhaps  the  one 
followed  in  most  of  the  counties  at  this  time: — the 
lieutenant  and  deputy  lieutenant  were  required  by 
court  to  see  that  a  certain  number  of  persons  were 
designated  to  attend  to  these  crops,  and  that  a  list  of 
their  names  was  promptly  given  to  the  constable,  with 
instructions  to  inform  them  of  the  task  imposed  on 
them.  Should  anyone  among  them  neglect  to  comply, 
he  was,  for  every  day  he  absented  himself  from  the 
field,  to  forfeit  one  hundred  pounds  of  tobacco,  to  be 

J  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  i.,  p.  319. 


Indian  Wars  :  Marches  85 

paid  to  the  soldier  whose  corn  and  tobacco  he  had  been 
assigned  to  look  after.1 

The  Indians  having,  in  1654,  committed  serious 
depredations  in  the  valley  of  the  Rappahannock  River, 
the  Assembly  formed  the  counties  of  Lancaster,  North- 
umberland, and  Westmoreland  into  an  association, 
subject  in  all  military  matters  to  a  council  of  war 
acting  with  the  assistance  of  the  justices  embraced  in 
each  county's  commission.  By  their  order,  Lancaster 
furnished  one  hundred  men;  Northumberland,  forty; 
and  Westmoreland  thirty;  and  this  entire  force  was 
placed  under  Colonel  John  Carter's  immediate  com- 
mand, who  was  instructed  to  lead  his  troops  against 
the  nearest  Indian  towns  and  demand  satisfaction  for 
the  robberies  and  murders  perpetrated  by  their  inhabit- 
ants. Whilst  the  little  army  was  to  repel  vigorously  all 
assaults  which  the  savages  might  make  on  it  during  its 
march,  yet  it  was  to  be  careful  not  to  begin  an  attack. 
Not  until  Colonel  Carter  had  reported  to  the  Governor 
and  Council  the  manner  in  which  the  expedition  had 
been  received  in  the  Indian  country  was  a  decision  to 

1  York  County  Records,  vol.  1638-48,  p.  121,  Va.  St.  Libr. 
In  Lower  Norfolk,  the  penalty  seems  to  have  been  40  lbs.  a  day; 
see  Orders  Aug.  15,  1645.  The  persons  designated  were,  no  doubt, 
in  every  instance,  the  fourteen  tithables  responsible'  for  the  military 
equipment  of  the  person  whose  crops  were  to  be  worked ;  see  Lower 
Norfolk  County  Records,  Orders  Aug.  15,  1645,  where  we  find  the 
following:  "Whereas  John  Cole  was  by  Capt.  Edward  Wyndham 
appointed  to  be  of  that  number  which  should  set  forth  George 
Rutland  the  southland  march,  and  is  since  departed  the  parish, 
by  which  means  the  said  Rutland  is  damnified  in  his  crop  for  want 
of  i\  days  work  which  should  have  been  paid  by  said  Cole,  there 
being  none  appointed  by  him  to  pay  it  before  his  departure.  It 
is  therefore  ordered,  according  to  the  order  of  the  last  council  of 
War,  that  Rutland  shall  be  satisfied  40  lbs.  of  tobo.  per  day  in  satis- 
faction of  his  said  work,  which  amount  to  the  full  quantity  of  100 
lbs.  of  tobo.  out  of  the  said  Cole's  estate.  " 


86  The  Military  System 

be  reached  as  to  whether  open  war  should  be  declared.1 
It  would  seem  that  the  towns  were  overawed  by  the 
strength  of  this  force,  and  no  hostilities  broke  out. 

Ten  years  afterwards,  several  murders  occurred  on 
that  part  of  the  Northern  Neck's  frontier  lying  towards 
the  upper  waters  of  the  Rappahannock;  these  were 
committed  by  the  neighboring  Indians,  who,  however, 
were  supposed  to  have  been  instigated  by  the  powerful 
tribes  seated  further  north;  and  it  was  even  suspected 
that  these  tribes  had  a  direct  hand  in  it  themselves. 
It  shows  how  radical  were  the  measures  deemed  justi- 
fiable under  circumstances  like  these  that  Berkeley, 
so  soon  as  he  was  informed  of  what  had  taken  place, 
wrote  to  Major-General  Smith  that  it  was  necessary 
to  exterminate  every  member  of  these  tribes  except  the 
women  and  children,  who  might  be  spared  in  order,  by 
their  sale  as  slaves,  to  defray  the  expenses  of  the 
campaign.  He  thought  such  a  merciless  course  neces- 
sary to  serve  as  a  warning  to  all  other  Indians;  and 
he  declared  that,  if  there  were  not  sufficient  troops  in 
the  Northern  Neck  to  go  upon  so  important  a  march, 
a  large  number  of  young  men  residing  in  the  other 
counties  held  themselves  in  readiness  to  join  it  without 
expectation  of  any  other  reward  than  "a  share  in  the 
booty."2  When  hostilities  began,  it  was  left  to  the 
Governor  to  name  the  officers,  and  to  determine  the 
number  of  soldiers  to  be  employed  in  it.3 

»  Randolph  MS.,  vol.  iii.,  p.  258.  This  march  took  place,  since 
allowances  were  made  in  the  levy  of  1655  for  some  of  its  expenses, 
such  as  the  cost  of  the  provisions,  and  the  like ;  see  Lancaster  County 
Records,  vol.  1652-56,  p.  233. 

2  Rappahannock  County  Records,  vol.  1663-68,  p.  23,  Va.  St. 
Libr. 

3  Robinson  Transcripts,  p.  117.  The  following  extract  from  the 
Lower  Norfolk  County  Records  (vol.  1666-75,  P-  242)  shows  how 


Indian  Wars  :  Marches  87 

Perhaps  the  most  serious  Indian  incursions  during 
the  Seventeenth  century  were  those  which  had  so  power- 
ful an  influence  in  bringing  on  the  Insurrection  of  1676. 
The  military  steps  taken  to  resist  these  incursions  show 
how  quickly  and  effectively  the  Colony  at  this  time 
could,  under  the  right  inspiration,  collect  its  strength 
to  repel  an  attack  of  the  savages,  however  wide  the 
territory  in  which  the  blow  might  be  struck.  As  soon 
as  news  of  the  ravages  and  butcheries  arrived,  the 
General  Assembly  provided  for  a  general  levy  of  one 
thousand  men,  of  whom  one  hundred  and  seventy-five 
were  to  form  a  troop  of  dragoons.  Each  county  was 
required  to  raise  a  quota  in  proportion  to  the  number  of 
its  tithables.  It  had  also  to  pay  the  wages  of  each  of 
its  soldiers;  to  furnish  him  with  two  pounds  of  powder 
and  six  of  shot;  to  equip  him  with  arms  ready  for  im- 
mediate use ;  and  to  supply  him  with  a  sufficient  amount 
of  biscuit,  dried  beef,  bacon  and  cheese,  to  last,  at  the 
rate  of  one  pound  of  biscuit  and  a  half  pound  of  beef, 
bacon,  and  cheese  per  diem,  for  a  period  of  at  least  two 
months,  the  probable  duration  of  the  campaign.     For 

victual  was  provided  for  the  soldiers  about  to  set  out  on  a  march : 
To  John  Hatton 

Provision  for  the  Western  Branch  Company  700  lbs. 

"  Mr  Willoughby 

Provision  etc  for  ye  soldiers         ....     3886     '*" 
"  Mr  Fulcher 

Provisions  for  ye  soldiers    .....      1000     " 

"  Mr  Carver  ditto 1775     " 

"  Mr  Sayer 

Expenses  upon  ye  soldiers  ....      1547     " 

"  Mr  Thorogood 

Expenses  upon  ye  soldiers  .....     1050     " 

"  Mr  Lear  ditto 400     " 

M  Clerk  of  ye  Militia 600     " 

10,958    " 


88  The  Military  System 

every  twenty-four  men  sent  out  by  a  county,  two  strong 
and  matured  oxen  and  one  horse  in  sound  condition 
were  also  to  be  dispatched.  If  the  campaign  had  not 
been  completed  twenty  days  before  the  expiration  of 
the  two  months  first  arranged  for,  each  county  was  to 
renew  all  its  original  provisions  for  the  extension  of  the 
war  over  two  additional  months, — new  soldiers  were  to 
be  levied  and  new  supplies  collected.  The  commander 
of  each  important  division  of  the  forces  was  author- 
ized to  impress  two  physicians  to  attend  to  the  medi- 
cal wants  of  his  troops.  All  soldiers  who  might  be 
maimed  for  life  were  assured  of  a  public  pension. 

The  small  army  formed  under  the  terms  of  this  ad- 
mirable law  was  divided  into  two  corps,  one  of  which 
was  designed  to  operate  against  the  Southern  Indians, 
the  other  against  the  Northern.  As  both  bodies  were, 
as  time  went  on,  certain  to  be  greatly  depleted  by 
various  casualties,  an  order  was  issued  that  all  de- 
ficiencies, whether  in  men,  arms,  ammunition,  victual, 
horses,  oxen  and  the  like,  should  be  made  good  by 
impressment,  but  only  after  the  proper  warrant  had 
been  addressed  to  the  chief  commander  of  the  militia, 
or  justices  of  the  county  in  which  the  impressment  was 
sought  to  be  enforced.  It  was,  perhaps,  the  most 
remarkable  feature  of  this  law  that  the  soldiers  fur- 
nished by  each  county  were  impowered  to  choose  their 
own  officers,  although,  when  once  selected,  these  had 
to  apply  to  the  Governor  for  their  commissions.  This 
is  one  of  the  earliest  of  the  popular  measures  which 
Bacon  aimed  to  introduce  for  the  destruction  of  those 
autocratic  and  oligarchic  influences  created  by  Berkeley 
and  the  Long  Assembly  in  every  department  of  the 
Colony's  administration.  If  a  company  or  troop  was 
composed  of  sixty  men,  they  elected  a  captain,  lieu- 


Indian  Wars  :  Marches  89 

tenant  or  ensign,  two  sergeants,  and  two  corporals;  but 
if  it  was  composed  of  only  forty  men,  they  could  elect 
only  an  ensign  or  lieutenant,  a  sergeant  and  corporal; 
and  these  were  all  the  officers  they  could  elect  when  the 
company  or  troop  did  not  exceed  thirty  in  number.1 

The  promptness  with  which  the  different  counties 
undertook  to  carry  out  this  measure  revealed  not  only 
the  urgency  of  the  impending  danger,  but  also  the  ex- 
istence of  a  general  feeling  that  its  several  provisions, 
if  energetically  enforced,  were  sufficient  to  ward  off 
that  danger.  Northumberland  was  one  of  the  first  to 
act.  The  quota  which  it  was  required  to  furnish  was 
forty-nine  men.  The  justices,  in  issuing  the  mandate 
for  immediate  enlistment,  directed  the  commander  of 
the  county  to  draw  the  footmen  in  even  proportions 
from  the  five  companies  of  infantry,  and  the  troopers 
in  the  same  proportions  from  the  two  companies  of 
cavalry.  Altogether,  Northumberland  contributed  six 
troopers  and  forty-three  footmen.  But  before  they 
were  dispatched,  they  were  ordered  to  assemble  on  the 
Fairfield  race  course.  Having  met,  every  soldier  who 
was  able  to  offer  an  acceptable  volunteer  in  his  place 
was  released  from  duty.  The  different  articles  needed 
on  the  march  were  supplied  by  wealthy  citizens;  for 
instance,  Captain  Howson  furnished  the  pack-saddles, 
Major  Brereton  the  meat,  Mr.  Philip  Morgan  and  Mr. 
Thomas  Hobson  the  bread,  while  the  horses  required 
for  the  transportation  of  these  provisions  and  the  bag- 
gage were  obtained  by  impressment  from  the  two 
parishes  embraced  in  the  county.  The  detachment 
was  accompanied  by  a  number  of  Indians,  employed, 
no  doubt,  to  serve  as  scouts,  for  which  their  wariness, 

1  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  ii.,  p.  341. 


90  The  Military  System 

knowledge  of  the  woods,  and  silent  movements  espe- 
cially fitted  them.1 

Middlesex  was  not  less  prompt  than  Northumber- 
land in  carrying  out  the  provisions  of  the  same  law; 
there  like  steps  were  taken  to  assure  the  troops,  during 
the  approaching  campaign,  a  sufficient  quantity  of  food. 
Major  Robert  Beverley  seems  to  have  furnished  the 
bread  and  bacon;  the  one  at  the  rate  of  two  shillings, 
and  the  other  at  the  rate  of  five  pounds  of  tobacco  a 
pound.  A  few  weeks  later,  the  justices  issued  an  order 
that  the  head  of  every  family  residing  in  the  county 
should,  for  the  use  of  the  soldiers,  supply  biscuit  in  the 
proportion  of  three  pounds  for  every  tithable  person 
attached  to  his  house  or  plantation;  this  biscuit  was  in 
part  to  be  made  of  flour;  and  it  was  to  be  brought  to 
the  courthouse  on  a  specified  date.  The  following 
January,  the  justices  designated  five  citizens  who  to- 
gether were  to  contribute  two  hundred  and  fifty  pounds 
of  biscuit  for  delivery  at  Richard  Robinson's  home  on 
the  twenty-ninth  day  of  the  month.  Christopher  Rob- 
inson, who  was  required  to  supply  a  portion  of  this 
biscuit,  was  also  directed  to  furnish  six  barrels  of  corn. 
How  heavy  were  the  charges  imposed  upon  each  county 
by  its  participation  in  this  great  expedition  against  the 
Indians  was  shown  by  Middlesex's  outlay  on  this  ac- 

i  Northumberland  County  Records,  Orders  July  4,  1676.  The 
following  shows  the  wages  of  the  soldiers  furnished  by  this  county : 
Captain  Andrew  Morton  2 1  months     .  .    •      .  .      1400  lbs. 

Lieut  John  Browne  2\  months  .  .  .  933     " 

Sergeant  John  Phillips  2!  months         .  .  .  .        583     " 

Sergeant  John  Trope  2 \  months  .  .  .  .        583     " 

John  Payne,  Drummer  2!  months        .  .  .  350     " 

Forty  four  soldiers  ©125  lbs.  per  month  for  each  man 

for  two  months  .......  12,848     " 


Orders  Sept.  20, 1676  .....  .16,697     " 


Indian  Wars  :  Marches  91 

count  :- — the  total  amount  which  the  taxpayers  of  that 
county  had  to  pay  was  estimated  at  nearly  thirty 
thousand  pounds  of  tobacco ;  this  sum  included  the  cost 
of  all  the  arms,  ammunition,  victual  and  horses;  and 
it  also  included  the  expenses  of  hiring  sloops,  rewarding 
special  messengers,  and  paying  the  soldiers'  wages.1 
In  spite  of  the  energetic  measures  adopted  in  1676 
to  subdue  the  Indian  tribes,  there  was  only  too  much 
ground  for  the  rumour  which  spread  through  the 
Colony  about  two  years  afterwards,  that  bands  of 
marauding  savages  had  been  seen  at  the  heads  of  the 
principal  rivers.  As  soon  as  the  news  of  this  fact 
reached  the  Governor's  ears,  he  ordered  the  troops 
at  this  time  stationed  in  Charles  City  and  Henrico  to 
keep  their  arms  and  horses  in  good  condition  and  to 
be  ready  at  a  moment's  notice  for  active  service.  The 
justices  of  each  of  the  two  counties  were  directed  to  hold 
a  session  of  their  court  at  once  in  order  to  take  im- 
mediate steps  to  provide  the  quantity  of  portable 
victual  that  would  be  needed;  and  this  victual  was  to 
be  forwarded  for  the  soldiers'  use  as  the  demand  for 
it  should  arise.  In  addition  to  the  troops  already 
prepared  to  march  to  the  frontier,  a  certain  number  of 
the  militia  belonging  to  either  county  was  to  be  called 
out.  The  general  supervision  of  all  the  arrangements 
was  assigned  to  Major  Abraham  Wood,  an  officer  who 
had  enjoyed  an  extensive  experience  in  military  affairs; 
and  all  persons  were  warned  to  obey  whatever  command 
he  should  give.  The  extra  expense  of  this  march  was 
to  be  defrayed  by  a  special  tax.2 

■  Middlesex  County  Records,  vol.  1673-80,  p.  57;  Orders  Oct. 
2,  1677. 

2  The  troops  already  under  arms  in  Henrico  and  Charles  City  coun- 
ties were  referred  to  by  the  Governor  as  "His  Majesty's  soldiers. " 


92  The  Military  System 

Under  the  influence  of  a  similar  danger,  a  little  band 
of  twenty  picked  men  was  furnished  by  Northumber- 
land for  an  expedition  sent  out  the  same  year.1  The 
manner  in  which  the  soldiers  of  this  county  were,  in 
1679,  provided  with  arms  and  victual  for  a  march 
was  perhaps  not  peculiar  to  Northumberland  on  such 
an  occasion : — the  justices  having  made  up  a  complete 
list  of  all  the  tithables  residing  within  its  limits,  the 
whole  number  was  divided  into  sets  of  forties,  and  each 
set  ordered  to  contribute  one  able  man,  with  a  horse; 
to  furnish  him  with  a  carbine,  sword,  and  pistols;  and 
to  supply  him  with  eighty  pounds  of  dried  pork  or 
bacon,  or  with  one  hundred  pounds  of  dried  beef,  two 
bushels  of  meal,  and  five  of  Indian  corn.2  Middlesex 
raised  thirteen  troopers  for  this  march.  In  this  county, 
each  horse  was  furnished  by  a  different  person,  who 
also  in  some  cases  furnished  the  saddle  and  bridle,  and 
in  other  cases,  the  pistols  and  holsters.  Sometimes 
one  person  would  provide  the  horse  and  another  person 
the  saddle;  or  one  the  horse,  another  the  saddle,"  and 
still  another  the  pistols.  The  swords  and  carbines  were 
supplied  by  the  county.  The  whole  expense  imposed 
on  Middlesex  alone  by  this  expedition  was  estimated 
at  fifty-six  thousand  pounds  of  tobacco,  and  as  the 
price  of  a  pound  of  tobacco  at  this  time  did  not,  on  the 
average,  range  lower  than  a  penny  and  a  half,  this 
signified  a  cost  approximating  six  thousand  dollars 

It  is  probable  from  this  expression  that  it  was  the  intention  to 
use  the  regulars  sent  out  to  Virginia  to  suppress  the  Insurrection 
of  1676;  see  Henrico  County  Records,  Minute  Book  1 682-1 701, 
p.  26,  Va.  St.  Libr. 

1  Northumberland  County  Records,  Oct.  22,  1679.  There  was 
an  allowance  in  the  levy  to  meet  the  expenses  of  these  troops,  such 
as  the  cost  of  victual,  arms,  horses,  and  the  like. 

2  Northumberland  County  Records,  Orders  June  7,  1679. 


Indian  Wars  :  Marches  93 

in  modern  values,  no  inconsiderable  sum  for  a  single 
county  to  pay  for  any  purpose,  even  in  the  present 
times.1  Westmoreland  also  incurred  a  heavy  outlay 
for  horses,  saddles,  bridles,  swords,  pistols,  carbines, 
boats,  and  sloops  procured  for  the  equipment  or  use 
of  the  forty  troopers  furnished  by  its  citizens  for  the 
same  expedition.2 

Down  to  1680,  there  was  a  regulation  that  no  steps 
should  be  taken  to  raise  men  to  repel  an  Indian  in- 
cursion until  the  Governor  had  been  informed  of  the 
inroad,  and  his  authority  obtained  to  call  out  the 
militia.  Recent  events  had  shown  that  the  delay  thus 
caused  might,  in  some  great  emergency  only  too  likely 
to  arise,  prove  fatal  to  a  large  number  of  the  Colony's 
inhabitants.  On  account  of  this  anticipation,  the 
Council,  this  year,  requested  the  Governor  to  confer 
on  certain  officers  residing  in  different  parts  of  Virginia 
the  right  to  summon  the  whole  body  of  militia  to  arms 
in  a  moment  of  pressing  need  without  first  sending  him 
word  of  their  intention.  The  persons  invested  with 
this  important  military  power  were  Colonel  Joseph 
Bridger  for  the  district  of  Nansemond,  Lower  Norfolk, 
Isle  of  Wight  and  Surry  counties;  Colonel  William 
Byrd  for  that  of  Henrico  and  Charles  City;  Lieut.  - 
Colonel  George  Lyddall  for  that  of  New  Kent;  whilst 
Lieut. -Colonel  William  Lloyd's  district  was  composed 
of  the  country  lying  along  the  Rappahannock;  and 
Captain  George  Cooper's  of  the  country  situated  on  the 
southern  bank  of  the  Potomac.3  Three  years  later, 
during  Culpeper's  absence  in  England,  news  having 
reached  the  Council  that  the  Seneca  Indians  were  about 

1  Middlesex  County  Records,  vol.  1673-80,  pp.  181,  202. 

2  Westmoreland  County  Records,  vol.  1675-89,  p.  162. 
>  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1680-95,  p.  46. 


94  The  Military  System 

to  descend  upon  the  frontiers,  orders  were  at  once  de- 
spatched to  Colonel  Byrd  to  hold  the  Henrico  horse  in 
readiness  to  march  against  the  enemy;  and  he  was 
also  to  inform  Colonel  Edward  Hill,  of  Charles  City, 
of  the  impending  danger  so  as  to  enable  him  to  prepare 
himself  to  come  to  Byrd's  support  when  the  command 
to  advance  towards  the  head  of  James  River  was  given. 
The  alarm  proved  to  be  groundless.1 

Seven  years  later,  the  Council  showed  an  equal  degree 
of  vigilance  and  alertness.  A  number  of  murders  had 
recently  been  committed  near  Fort  Albany  in  New  York 
by  the  French  and  Indians,  who  had  long  been  threat- 
ening the  English  settlements.  As  soon  as  the  news  of 
all  this  reached  Virginia,  the  Council  adopted  measures 
for  checking  and  repulsing  these  allied  foes  should  they 
extend  their  incursion  southward.  Every  commander- 
in-chief  throughout  the  Colony  was  ordered  to  see  that 
each  company  or  troop  which  had  been  organized  in  his 
district  was  in  a  state  of  readiness  to  start  upon  a  march 
at  a  few  hours'  notice,  with  their  accoutrements  in  good 
condition,  and  their  guns  well  fixed.  He  was  also  to  see 
that  word  was  sent  to  all  the  inhabitants  of  his  district 
to  give  prompt  information  of  the  enemy's  approach 
to  the  nearest  militia  officer;  who,  on  its  receipt,  was 
to  summon  the  persons  enlisted  in  his  company  or 
troop  to  meet  at  the  usual  place  of  rendezvous;   and 

i  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1680-95,  p.  186.  "Upon  the  petition 
of  Captain  Thomas  Cocke  and  proof  thereof  made,  certificate  to 
the  next  Assembly  is  granted  tmto  him  for  180  lbs  of  Tobacco,  and 
cask  by  him  paid  to  men  imprest  by  order  of  Hon  William  Byrd 
for  the  transporting  of  the  country's  arms  and  ammunition  for  the 
country's  service  from  Mr  Francis  Eppes'  house  up  to  Falls  of 
James  River,  it  being  about  forty  miles."  This  was  ifi  1685;  see 
Henrico  County  Records  Minute  Book,  1 682-1 701,  p.  118,  Va. 
St.  Libr. 


Indian  Wars  :  Marches  95 

the  same  officer  was,  under  these  circumstances,  also  to 
dispatch  messengers  to  the  other  militia  officers  of  his 
county,  who  were  to  follow  his  example  in  collecting 
their  forces.  Should  the  commander-in-chief  think 
that  a  greater  number  of  soldiers  were  needed  than  one 
county  could  furnish,  then  he  was  impowered  to  raise 
the  militia  of  the  surrounding  counties  on  his  own 
authority,  provided  that  he  forwarded  a  full  report  of 
his  proceedings  to  the  Governor  at  Jamestown.1 

That  the  danger  which  these  elaborate  precautions 
were  designed  to  meet  was  not  a  mere  phantom  of  rumor 
and  panic  was  proven  by  the  fact  that,  at  this  time, 
a  party  of  English  hunters,  who  were  exploring  the 
forests  about  twenty  miles  beyond  the  last  of  the 
outlying  plantations,  were  attacked  by  wandering 
Indians,  and  some  of  them  killed  and  others  wounded. 
All  such  detached  parties,  whether  pursuing  game, 
or  seeking  to  trade  with  the  savages,  ran  the  gravest 
risk  of  being  destroyed  by  being  shot  down  unex- 
pectedly from  behind  trees  and  rocks.2  Nevertheless, 
the  presence  of  such  peril,  which  was  quite  constant 
even  when  peace  was  supposed  to  prevail,  did  not  make 
the  General  Assembly  less  determined  that  idle  reports 
of  imaginary  Indian  incursions  should  be  discouraged 
by  punishing  the  persons  spreading  them,  although' 
unaware  that  these  reports  were  without  reasona- 
ble ground.  In  1694,  Edward  Hatcher,  of  Henrico, 
created  great  consternation  there  by  announcing 
puolicly  at  different  places  that,  to  his  certain  know- 
ledge, Mrs.  Banister  and  all  her  family  had  been  slain 
by  the  Indians;  the  militia,  in  consequence,  were  sum- 
moned to  take  up  arms  to  repel  an  incursion ;  and  they 

•  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1680-95,  P-  33  7- 

2  Letter  of  Gov.  Nicholson,  B.  T.  Va.,  1690,  No.  7. 


96  The  Military  System 

actually  assembled  at  the  rendezvous  on  Mr.  William 
Puckett's  plantation,  where  it  was  soon  found  out  that 
Hatcher  was  not  justified  in  making  such  a  statement, 
either  by  what  he  had  seen  himself,  or  by  what  others 
had  reported  to  him.  The  county  court  promptly 
took  up  the  matter  with  a  view  to  punishing  him  for 
his  conduct.1 

«  Henrico  County  Records,  vol.  1688-97,  pp.  532,  535,  Va.  St. 
Libr. 


CHAPTER  VIII 
Indian  Wars:   Forts 

MARCHES  were  not  the  only  means  adopted  by  the 
colonists  to  protect  their  different  communities 
from  an  Indian  attack.  In  the  early  history 
of  the  settlements,  it  was  customary  for  the  General 
Assembly  from  time  to  time  to  give  orders  that  every 
residence  should  be  surrounded  by  a  strong  stockade, 
or  palisade  as  it  was  then  known,  which,  by  making 
each  dwelling  house  really  a  private  fort,  enabled  the 
inmates  to  offer  a  successful  defence  from  behind  its 
shelter.  Such  a  regulation  was  put  in  force  very  gener- 
ally in  1623,  the  year  after  the  great  massacre,  an  event 
that  had  showed  so  vividly  the  need  of  such  a  forti- 
fication; and  also,  in  1626,  when  an  Indian  incursion 
was  again  threatened.1  As  the  population  of  the  Col- 
ony's older  parts  grew  more  numerous,  and  thus  raised 
a  barrier  against  any  serious  inroad  of  the  savages,  the 
necessity  of  employing  such  a  means  of  protection  in 
those  parts  gradually  passed  away;  and,  no  doubt,  this 
change  in  conditions  was  accepted  with  great  satis- 
faction ;  among  other  reasons,  because  it  must  have  been 
troublesome  and  expensive  to  erect  and  preserve  a 
stockade  around  even  the  smallest  cabin.  The  custom, 
however,  continued  on  the  frontier  long  after  it  had 

1  British   Colonial   Papers,   vol.   iii.,    1624-5,   No.   9;   Robinson 
Transcripts,  p.  54. 

vol.  11-7  97 


98  The  Military  System 

ceased  in  the  central  divisions  of  the  Colony,  for  there 
a  stockade  always  served  as  a  valuable  fortification  for 
a  lonely  dwelling  house. 

At  one  time,  it  was  sought  to  protect  a  great  area 
of  country  near  the  end  of  the  peninsula  between  the 
James  and  York  Rivers  by  the  construction  of  a  pali- 
sade from  one  of  these  streams  to  the  other.  Although 
it  stretched  a  length  of  only  six  miles, — from  Martin's 
Hundred  to  Cheskiack, — it  shut  off  the  marauding 
Indians  from  a  reach  of  field  and  forest  spreading 
over  at  least  three  hundred  thousand  acres.  The  first 
suggestion  of  this  important  fortification  seems  to  have 
come  from  the  General  Assembly  and  was  embodied  in 
a  letter  to  the  Privy  Council  written  by  that  body  in 
the  course  of  162  4-5.  *  The  idea  probably  had  its 
origin  in  the  palings  which  Dale,  many  years  before,  had 
erected  in  the  neighborhood  of  Henricopolis ;  more, 
however,  with  a  view  to  protect  the  newly  planted  corn 
from  the  depredations  of  wild  animals,  and  to  keep  the 
cattle  and  hogs  from  wandering,  than  to  set  up  a  serious 
barrier  against  an  inroad  of  the  savages.2  The  pali- 
sade seems  to  have  been  built  by  Samuel  Mathews  and 
William  Claiborne.  In  the  proposition  submitted  by 
the  two,  they  requested  that  they  should  be  paid  twelve 
hundred  pounds  sterling  at  once  as  a  fund  with  which 
to  secure  the  laborers  and  materials  needed  in  carrying 
through  the  work;  that  they  should  be  granted  patents 
to  six  score  poles  of  ground  situated  on  either  side  of  the 
palisade,  where  they  promised  to  seat  a  large  number 
of  persons  to  serve  as  a  convenient  guard  for  its  protec- 
tion; and  finally,  that  they  should  receive  one  hundred 

1  British  Colonial  Papers,  vol.  iii.,  1624-5,  No.  8. 

2  Bruce's  Economic  History  of  Virginia  in  the  Seventeenth  Century, 
vol.  i.,  pp.  209-10. 


Indian  Wars  :  Forts  99 

pounds  sterling  annually,  to  be  expended  in  preventing 
the  structure  from  going  to  ruin.  In  return,  Mathews 
and  Claiborne  bound  themselves  to  erect  it  before 
the  expiration  of  eighteen  months;  to  build  along  the 
line  a  succession  of  blockhouses,  each  within  musket 
shot  of  its  nearest  neighbor  on  either  side;  and  to  sta- 
tion in  every  blockhouse  a  garrison  of  picked  men. 
In  the  letter  setting  forth  the  proposition,  they  asked 
that  an  answer  should  be  given  before  the  ensuing 
Christmas,  as,  in  case  their  offer  was  accepted,  it  would 
be  imperative  for  one  of  them  to  visit  England  to  pro- 
cure certain  articles  that  would  be  needed  in  the  course 
of  the  work.1  The  palisade  was  not  completed  for 
some  years.  In  1634,  Harvey  reported  to  the  English 
Government  that  it  was  then  in  existence.2  Long  after 
the  structure  Jiad  been  allowed  to  go  to  ruin  as  no  longer 
required  for  the  country's  safety,  traces  of  it  remained 
to  remind  the  neighboring  planters  of  the  times  when 
even  that  part  of  Virginia,  then  so  remote  from  the 
frontier,  had  once  been  exposed  to  the  danger  of  Indian 
incursions. 

As  the  Colony's  frontiers  widened,  a  palisade  resem- 
bling the  one  erected  between  Martin's  Hundred  and 
Cheskiack  became  impracticable;  but  the  blockhouses 
or  small  forts  protecting  such  a  palisade  could  be 
repeated  at  suitable  points  without  entailing  extraor- 
dinary expense  either  to  build  or  to  maintain  them. 
A  number  of  these  forts  had  sprung  up  as  early  as  1646 ; 
and  they  were  then  used,  just  as  they  were  afterwards, 
not  only  as  points  of  observation  for  a  carefully  selected 

»  British  Colonial  Papers,  vol.  iv.,  1626-8,  No.  10,  II.  A  letter 
from  Wyatt  on  the  same  subject  will  be  found  in  British  Colonial 
Papers,  vol.  iv.,  1626-28,  No.  10. 

2  British  Colonial  Papers,  vol.  viii.,  1634-5,  No.  22. 


ioo  The  Military  System 

garrison,  but  also  as  places  from  which  expeditions 
seeking  to  break  the  Indian  power  might  start  out, 
and  to  which  they  might  return  for  safety  in  case  they 
had  proved  unsuccessful.  In  one  year  alone,  1645,  the 
General  Assembly  made  provision  for  the  erection  of 
three  important  forts;  they  were  to  be  known  as  Forts 
Royal,  Charles,  and  James;  and  the  sites  chosen  for 
them  were  respectively  Pamunkey,  the  Falls  of  the 
James,  and  the  high  ridge  overlooking  the  Chicka- 
hominy.1  There  was,  at  this  time,  standing  on  the 
south  side  of  the  James,  at  a  place  then  known  as  the 
Middle  Plantation,  a  fortification,  which  came  at  a 
later  date  to  be  called  Grindall's  Old  Fort.2 

In  the  following  year,  provision  was  also  made  for 
the  building  of  a  fort  at  the  Falls  of  the  Appomattox 
River,  the  site  of  the  modern  city  of  Petersburg.  The 
manner  in  which  this  fort  was  erected  and  a  garrison 
provided  for  it,  was,  no  doubt,  the  one  then  generally  fol- 
lowed :  the  power  was  conferred  upon  the  lieutenant  and 
deputy-lieutenant  in  command  of  the  area  of  country 
situated  within  the  limits  of  Bass's  Choice,  to  procure, 
by  means  of  a  public  levy,  the  fund  required  for  the 
purchase  of  all  the  materials  that  would  enter  into  the 
proposed  structure ;  whilst  the  soldiers  to  defend  it  were 
to  be  drawn  from  the  local  militia  to  the  number  of 
forty-five  men,  of  whom  three  were  to  be  enlisted  from 
Henrico,  twelve  from  Charles  City,  and  fifteen  from 
James  City  and  Isle  of  Wight  respectively.  The  captain 
of  this  company  was  to  possess  the  right  to  select 
all  his  subordinate  officers.      The  fort  itself  was  to 


1  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  i.,  p.  293. 

2  Robinson  Transcripts,  p.  239;  Surry  County  Records,  vol. 
1645-72,  p.  59,  Va.  St.  Libr.  The  term  "middle  plantation"  was 
best  known  in  connection  with  the  site  of  Williamsburg. 


Indian  Wars  :  Forts  101 

be   under   the    medical    supervision   of   a    competent 
physician.1 

The  support  of  these  frontier  forts  soon  becoming 
extremely  burdensome,  to  the  people,  various  devices 
were  adopted  to  lessen  the  tax  which  they  imposed. 
In  1646,  two  years  after  the  second  great  massacre, 
valuable  grants  of  various  kinds  were  made  to  certain 
responsible  citizens  in  consideration  of  their  assuming 
all  the  charges  as  well  of  keeping  these  forts  in  a  con- 
dition of  good  repair  as  of  maintaining  the  numerical 
strength  of  their  garrisons.  Thus  to  Capt.  Abraham 
Wood,  Fort  Henry,  with  all  outstanding  houses,  and  a 
tract  of  six  hundred  acres  adjacent,  was  presented  in 
return  for  his  agreeing  to  support  at  his  own  cost,  for 
a  period  of  three  years,  a  garrison  of  ten  men  in  that 
stronghold;  he  was  also  to  receive  all  the  arms  and 
ammunition  to  be  found  there,  and  also  all  the  boats 
belonging  to  it;  and  he,  as  well  as  the  soldiers  under 
his  command,  were,  during  the  time  of  their  occupation, 
to  be  exempted  from  all  forms  of  public  taxation.  Six 
hundred  acres,  with  the  like  privileges,  were  bestowed 
on  Capt.  Roger  Marshall  for  maintaining  Fort  Royall, 
popularly  known  as  Fort  Rickahock,  with  a  garrison 
of  ten  men;  and  four  hundred  on  Thomas  Rolfe  also, 
with  the  like  privileges,  for  maintaining  Fort  James, 
with  a  garrison  of  six  men.  There  was  no  tillable  land 
situated  in  the  immediate  neighborhood  of  Fort  Charles 
at  the  FpIIs  of  the  James,  but  the  General  Assembly 
announced  that,  should  any  one  purchase  the  Harris 
plantation  on  the  south  side  of  the  river  and  also  under- 
take to  maintain  the  fort  with  a  sufficient  garrison,  he 
should  receive  as  his  own  all  the  boats  and  ammunition 

1  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  i.,  p.  315. 


102  The  Military  System 

belonging  to  it;  and  he  should  also  be  permitted  to  pull 
down  all  the  outstanding  houses  for  the  use  of  the  timber 
and  nails.  The  privilege  of  exemption  from  the  levy 
for  a  period  of  three  years  was  also  to  be  conferred  on 
him  and  the  men  subject  to  his  command.1  That 
this  provision  was  really  carried  out  in  every  case  is 
shown  by  the  action  of  the  York  county  court  in  de- 
claring that  John  Addison,  a  soldier  attached  to  Fort 
Royall,  could  not  be  taxed  because  he  was  under  con- 
tract to  serve  as  a  member  of  the  garrison  stationed  at 
that  place.2 

Many  years  after  these  forts  were  erected,  in  con- 
sequence of  the  extraordinary  activity  of  hostile  tribes, 
a  like  influence  moved  the  General  Assembly  to  provide 
for  the  construction  of  a  large  number  of  new  forts 
to  serve  the  same  general  purpose.  In  1675-6,  when 
the  Colonists  were  suffering  severely  from  the  Indians' 
depredations,  a  plan  was  adopted  to  hold  them  in  check 
by  establishing  a  chain  of  posts  along  the  whole  line  of 
what  formed  the  frontier  at  that  time.  This  chain  was 
to  begin  at  a  point  situated  on  the  upper  Potomac,  in 
Stafford  county,  where  eighty  men  were  to  be  stationed. 
The  second  fort  was  to  be  raised  at  the  falls  of  the 
Rappahannock,  and  was  to  be  occupied  by  one  hundred 
and  eleven  men;  the  third  at  a  point  on  the  Mattaponi 
River,  where  the  garrison  was  to  number  fifty-two  men ; 
the  fourth  at  the  Falls  of  the  James,  the  site  of  one  of  the 
fortifications  erected  in  1646,  but  which,  by  this  time 
had  probably  gone  entirely  to  ruin.  This  post  was  to  be 
held  by  fifty-five  men.  The  fifth  fort  was  to  be  built 
at  the  Falls  of  the  Appomattox,  where  an  earlier  fort, 


1  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  i.,  p.  327. 

2  York  County  Records,  vol.  1638-48,  p.  108,  Va.  St.  Libr. 


Indian  Wars  :  Forts  103 

as  we  have  seen,  had  once  stood;  the  garrison  here  was 
to  number  fifty-seven  men.  The  sixth  fort  was  to  be 
built  on  the  Blackwater  River  in  Surry,  and  the 
seventh  on  the  Nansemond,  near  its  headwaters;  each 
of  which  was  to  be  occupied  by  forty  men.  And  finally 
a  fort  was  to  be  built  in  Accomac. 

It  will  be  seen  that  this  series  of  forts  was  designed 
to  extend  from  the  furthest  plantation  on  the  North- 
west round  to  the  furthest  on  the  Southwest, — in  other 
words,  from  the  Potomac  on  the  one  side,  to  the 
Nansemond  on  the  other.  It  is  probable  that  the 
distance  between  the  site  of  each  fort  and  that  of  its 
nearest  neighbor  on  either  hand,  did  not,  on  an  average, 
exceed  forty  miles.  Each  site  was  chosen  as  possessing 
commanding  advantages,  not  the  smallest  of  which 
was  the  fact  that  its  proximity  to  deep  water  allowed 
easy  and  safe  access  in  an  emergency  to  the  more  settled 
parts  of  the  Colony.  The  men  to  be  assigned  to  the 
defence  of  these  forts  were  to  be  raised  by  a  general 
levy;  but  each  county  was  to  contribute  a  quota  in 
proportion  to  the  number  of  its  tithables.  All  the 
powder  and  shot  at  the  authorities'  disposal  was  to  be 
divided  among  these  different  garrisons  according  to 
their  respective  number  of  soldiers.  The  first  term  of 
service  was  to  last  for  four  months;  but,  if  necessary, 
was  to  be  extended  to  four  months  more.  There  were 
to  be  provided  for  each  soldier  five  bushels  of  shelled 
corn  and  sixty  pounds  of  pork  or  beef;  and  the  quantity 
in  each  case  was  to  be  renewed  at  the  end  of  the  first 
four  months.  In  addition,  each  garrison  was  to  receive 
a  supply  of  axes,  hoes,  spades,  saws,  wedges,  and  nails. 
Boats  were  to  be  impressed  to  transport  the  troops, 
together  with  their  supplies  of  all  kinds,  to  the  different 
strongholds.     A  physician  was  to  be  appointed  for  each 


104  The  Military  System 

fort;  and  he  was  to  be  furnished  with  medicines  to  the 
value  of  five  pounds  sterling  for  every  one  hundred  men 
under  his  care.  The  commanders  of  the  counties  in  the 
immediate  neighborhood  of  each  fort  were  required  to 
hold  all  the  troops  under  them  in  readiness  to  march  to 
its  garrison's  relief  should  there  be  a  call  for  assistance; 
and  in  that  event,  they  were  to  pursue  the  Indians  to 
their  towns,  and  if  possible  exterminate  them.  The 
entire  body  of  militia,  which  was  liable  at  any  time  to  be 
summoned  to  the  aid  of  all  the  forts,  was  placed  under 
the  orders  of  a  single  commander-in-chief.1 

It  is  probable  that  most  of  these  forts  were  built,  as 
it  was  recognized  at  the  time  that  some  extreme  step 
had  to  be  taken  to  protect  the  Colony  from  the  incursion 
of  the  savages.  The  erection  of  each  fort  did  not  in 
itself  impose  a  very  heavy  charge,  as  it  was  constructed 
in  a  very  simple  fashion  of  materials  obtained  from  the 
surrounding  forests.  The  maintenance  of  the  garrisons, 
however,  imposed  now,  as  in  1646,  a  heavy  burden  on 
the  taxpayers,  and  led,  as  in  1646  also,  to  various  de- 
vices for  lessening  the  expense.  In  1679,  a  proposition 
was  made  by  Major  Lawrence  Smith  which  was  designed 
to  relieve  the  public  of  the  support  of  a  garrison  at  the 
fort  on  the  Rappahannock.  He  offered  to  seat  fifty 
men  near  this  fort  within  an  area  fronting  a  mile  on 
the  river,  and  running  back  a  quarter  of  a  mile  into  the 
forests;  and  he  would  continue  to  add  to  this  number 
until  he  had  settled  two  hundred  and  fifty  on  the  tract. 
They  would  be  always  prepared  to  run  together  to 
resist  an  Indian  attack  as  soon  as  the  drum  beat  the 
first  note  of  alarm.  Smith  bound  himself  also  to  lead 
them  in  pursuit  of  a  more  distant  enemy  whenever  he 
should  receive  notice  from  the  Governor,  Lieut. -General, 

»  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  ii.,  p.  333. 


v"HVfcKi>!  T  Y 

OF 


Indian  Wars  :  Forts  105 

Major-General,  or  any  of  the  neighboring  inhabitants 
that  their  services  were  needed  to  put  an  end  to  the 
ravages  of  some  marauding  tribe;  but  they  were  not  to 
be  required  to  proceed  alone  more  than  twenty  miles 
from  the  fort,  should  they  have  good  reason  to  think 
that  the  hostile  force  exceeded  their  own  in  strength; 
at  that  distance,  they  were  to  be  permitted  to  unite 
with  the  Colony's  regular  troops,  and  thereafter  were 
to  be  paid  wages  like  the  rest  of  the  soldiers.  Smith 
asked  that  the  following  privileges  should  be  extended 
to  the  persons  he  proposed  to  settle:  first,  they  should 
be  allowed  a  court  of  their  own  composed  of  himself 
and  two  others  nominated  by  him,  who  should  enjoy 
the  right  to  decide  all  cases  a  county  court  was  author- 
ized to  determine;  secondly,  they  should  be  governed 
chiefly  by  by-laws  adopted  by  a  body  made  up  of  Smith, 
two  commissioners,  and  six  inhabitants  of  the  tract 
chosen  by  the  popular  voice;  and,  finally,  they  should, 
to  the  number  of  one  hundred  and  fifty,  be  entirely 
exempted  from  arrest  for  debt  for  a  period  of  twelve 
years,  and  for  fifteen,  should  be  relieved  of  all  public, 
county,  and  parish  burdens;  and  be  liable  only  for  the 
payment  of  the  small  taxes  imposed  to  meet  the  ad- 
ministrative needs  of  the  narrow  district  to  which  their 
homes  were  to  be  confined.  The  privileged  area  should 
extend  five  and  a  half  miles  along  the  bank  of  the  river, 
of  which  three  miles  should  lie  above  the  fort,  and  two 
and  a  half  below ;  and  it  should  reach  back  for  a  distance 
of  four  miles. 

The  same  offer  was  made  by  Col.  William  Byrd  for 
the  maintenance  of  the  fort  at  the  Falls  of  James  River. 
The  tract  which  he  proposed  to  seat  in  return  for  the 
same  privileges  was  to  extend  five  miles  up  and  down 
on  both  sides  of  the  river  at  that  point.     The  tract  on 


io6  The  Military  System 

the  south  side  was  to  spread  back  into  the  forest  one, 
and  on  the  north  side,  two  miles.1 

A  remarkable  scene  occurred  in  the  Rappahannock 
fort  in  September  of  the  same  year.  The  commander 
of  that  fort  at  this  time  was  Capt.  Cadwalader  Jones, 
who  had  recently  written  to  Major  Robert  Beverley 
in  criticism  perhaps  of  the  quota  of  men  and  horses 
furnished  for  the  war  by  Middlesex  county  under  the 
latter  officer's  orders.  The  letter  in  reply  must  have 
been  very  offensive,  for  Jones  first  gave  directions  that 
it  should  be  read  before  the  assembled  garrison;  but 
not  satisfied  with  this,  he  caused  a  fire  to  be  made  in  full 
view  of  the  soldiers,  now  drawn  up  before  him,  and 
holding  up  the  letter  so  that  all  could  see  it,  bade  them 
take  notice  that  he  valued  the  writer  of  that  missive, 
and  also  the  Governor  himself,  no  more  than  he  did 
the  letter  itself;  and  with  an  air  of  great  scorn  and 
contempt  threw  it  into  the  flames,  where  it  was  soon 
consumed.  Nor  did  he  dismiss  the  matter  even  after 
this  act  so  expressive  of  extreme  disdain,  but  seizing  a 
stout  stick,  beat  Peter  Russell,  the  corporal  who  had 
carried  Jones's  letter  to  Beverley  and  brought  back 
Beverley's  answer,  until  he  was  (to  repeat  the  language 
of  the  record)  "black  and  blue  in  divers  places."  The 
commander  then  clapped  the  unfortunate  man  into 
the  stocks  standing  within  the  bounds  of  the  fort. 

This  incident  showed  that  the  secluded  situation 
of  the  commander  of  a  frontier  fort  very  often  fostered 
in  him  greater  independence  of  spirit  and  freedom  of 
action  in  expressing  his  opinions  and  feelings  than  he 
would  have  indulged  in  had  he  been  less  remotely 
placed.  In  showering  such  indignity  on  a  letter 
coming  from  an  officer  of  higher  rank  than  himself, 

»  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  ii.,  p.  448. 


Indian  Wars  :  Forts  107 

Captain  Jones  either  yielded  to  the  uncontrollable 
impulse  of  an  irascible  temper,  or  relied  upon  the 
distance  to  prevent  his  conduct  from  becoming  known 
to  those  having  authority  to  punish  him  for  insub- 
ordination. But  it  is  much  more  probable  that  he 
was  aware  that  his  position  as  commander  of  a  fort 
buried  in  the  forest  wilderness  was  one  so  little  desired 
by  others  that  his  military  superiors  would  be  inclined 
to  wink  at  the  intemperate  and  insulting  character 
of  his  act  and  words,  even  should  news  of  it  reach  their 
ears.  The  scene  also  disclosed  the  extraordinary 
power  assumed  over  his  men  by  a  headstrong  com- 
mander when  withdrawn  from  the  immediate  super- 
vision of  a  higher  officer.  That  Captain  Jones's  offence 
brought  down  upon  him  no  real  punishment  is  proven 
by  the  fact  that,  in  the  course  of  the  following  year, 
he  was  allowed  fifteen  thousand  pounds  of  tobacco  in 
consideration  of  the  extraordinary  losses  and  suffer- 
ings which  he  had  personally  undergone  in  the  country's 
service  in  defending  the  frontiers.  He  was  still  in  charge 
of  the  fort  in  1684,  having  now  been  advanced  to  the 
rank  of  Colonel;  subject  to  his  orders  in  this  post  were 
one  captain  and  two  corporals;  whilst  the  body  of  the 
garrison  consisted  of  eighteen  soldiers  and  twenty 
horsemen.1 

That  there  was  a  fortification  of  some  kind  standing 
on  the  Potomac  at  this  time  is  indicated  by  an  order 
of  the  Northumberland  justices,  passed  in  1680,  re- 
quiring the  people  of  the  county  to  contribute  a  large 
quantity  of  salted  pork  or  beef  and  corn-meal  for  the 

1  Middlesex  County  Records,  Orders  Oct.  6,  1679;  Rappahannock 
County  Records,  Orders  April  2,  1684;  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1682- 
95,  p.  96;  Minutes  of  Council,  June  30,  1680,  Colonial  Entry  Book, 
vol.  lxxxvi. 


108  The  Military  System 

support  of  the  garrison  stationed  at  that  place.  This 
victual  was  delivered  to  Captain  Hudnall,  who,  when 
the  entire  supply  had  been  brought  in,  transported 
it  in  his  sloop  to  the  fort.1  Among  the  other  charges 
entailed  by  this  stronghold's  maintenance  at  this  time 
was  the  cost  of  the  medicines  procured  for  its  use  by 
Colonel  Spencer.2 

It  is  possible  that  this  fort  was  one  of  the  palisaded 
houses  ordered  by  the  General  Assembly,  in  1679,  to 
be  erected  at  the  heads  of  the  four  great  rivers  flowing 
down  from  the  western  mountains.  These  houses 
seem  to  have  been  designed  chiefly  for  stores;  and  it 
was  principally  for  these  stores'  protection  that  they 
were  garrisoned.  The  house  intended  for  the  Potomac 
was  required  to  be  built  near  the  Occoquan  River,  a 
tributary,  and  the  articles  to  be  placed  in  it,  consisting 
of  a  large  quantity  of  nails,  carpenters'  tools,  and 
kitchen  utensils,  together  with  many  bushels  of  salt, 
were  to  be  supplied  by  Major  Isaac  Allerton,  Col. 
George  Mason,  and  St.  Leger  Codd.  At  the  head  of 
the  Rappahannock  River,  the  second  storehouse  was  to 
be  erected;  and  there  was  to  be  raised  in  its  immediate 
vicinity  a  small  house  as  a  shelter  for  the  ammunition. 
Major  Lawrence  Smith  was  required  to  procure  for  this 
storehouse  the   same   kind  of  articles  as  had  to  be 

1  Northumberland  County  Records,  vol.  1678-98,  p.  64. 

2  British  Colonial  Papers,  vol.  xxxvii.,  Doct.  20.  "Whereas 
there  is  an  article  of  6200  lbs.  of  tobacco  part  of  the  sum  of  10,370 
pounds  levied  this  Assembly  for  Mr.  John  Quigley,  and  is  charged 
for  medicines  delivered  to  Robert  Synock  as  Surgeon  to  Rappa- 
hannock garrison,  and  there  being  but  only  five  pounds  sterling 
appointed  to  buy  medicines  for  each  fort;  it  is  therefore,  ordered 
that,  if  it  shall  appear  to  the  court  of  Rappahannock  that  the  said 
Synock  ought  to  be  allowed  the  overplus,  then  he  the  said  Synock 
shall  discount  ye  same  out  of  what  he  is  to  receive  from  this  public 
levy";  Orders  of  Assembly,  1680,  Colonial  Entry  Book,  vol.  lxxx. 


Indian  Wars  :  Forts  109 

provided  for  the  one  situated  on  the  upper  waters  of 
the  Potomac.  The  buildings  at  the  head  of  the  Rappa- 
hannock were  to  be  duplicated  at  the  head  of  the 
Mattaponi;  also  at  the  head  of  the  James;  and  for 
the  one,  Major  Richard  Johnston  was  to  purchase  the 
necessary  stores,  and  for  the  other,  Colonel  William 
Byrd. 

The  men  who  were  to  guard  these  storehouses  were 
to  be  obtained  from  the  different  counties  in  proportion 
to  the  number  of  their  respective  tithables.  Every 
forty  tithables  to  be  found  in  the  Colony  were  to  con- 
tribute one  soldier  to  this  service;  they  were  also  to 
supply  him  with  a  horse  and  to  equip  him  with  arms, 
consisting  of  a  case  of  pistols,  a  sword,  and  a  carbine 
or  shotgun;  and  in  addition,  they  were  to  furnish  him 
with  two  pounds  of  powder,  and  ten  pounds  of  leaden 
bullets  or  swan-shot.  Nor  was  their  provision  to  stop 
here :  they  were  also  required  to  send  to  the  storehouse 
which  he  was  to  assist  in  protecting,  five  bushels  of 
shelled  maize,  two  bushels  of  meal,  eighty  pounds  of 
salted  pork,  or  one  hundred  pounds  of  salted  beef. 
In  the  beginning,  the  soldiers'  duties  were  not  to  be 
wholly  military: — they  were  expected  to  fell,  maul,  and 
saw  the  timber  for  use  in  constructing  the  storehouse 
and  the  neighboring  guard-house.  Each  garrison  was 
to  be  supplied  with  a  boat  capacious  enough  to  trans- 
port three  or  four  horses  at  one  time ;  and  also  with  one 
barrel  of  gunpowder,  shot  in  proportion,  and  ten  long 
muskets.  Each  garrison  too  was  to  have  attached  to 
it  four  experienced  Indian  scouts  procured  from  the 
nearest  friendly  tribe.1 

As  the  garrisons  thus  raised  and  maintained  entailed 

«  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  ii.,  pp.  433-40. 


no  The  Military  System 

a  serious  public  expense,  owing  to  their  size,  it  was 
decided  some  years  later,  danger  of  Indian  attack 
having  now  grown  less,  to  reduce  each  to  twenty  men. 
The  task  of  providing  for  them  was,  for  a  valuable  consid- 
eration, undertaken  by  several  of  the  Colony's  principal 
citizens;  for  instance,  Colonel  William  Byrd,  in  return 
for  two  thousand  pounds  of  tobacco  for  each  soldier, 
agreed  to  supply  the  necessary  food  for  the  men  pro- 
tecting the  storehouse  built  at  the  head  of  James  River ; 
Colonel  Langhorne,  for  those  protecting  the  storehouse 
situated  on  the  Mattaponi;  and  Major  Robert  Bev- 
erley, for  those  guarding  the  one  standing  near  the 
upper  waters  of  the  Rappahannock.1  In  1680,  when 
there  was  some  perplexity  as  to  how  to  dispose  of  the 
regulars  sent  out  to  repress  the  Insurrection  of  1676, 
it  having  been  concluded  that  the  best  use  to  be  made 
of  them  was  to  assign  as  many  as  possible  to  these 
remote  spots,  eight  were  added  to  each  of  the  outlying 
garrisons.2  The  Indians  had  now  been  so  completely 
subdued  that  there  was  not  much  danger  of  an  early 
outbreak;  nevertheless,  it  was  clearly  recognized  that 
no  dependence  could  be  placed  upon  their  continuing 
in  a  state  of  quietude  unless  they  were  constantly 
restrained  from  overt  acts  by  the  presence  of  these 
garrisons,  who  were  always  ready,  on  the  smallest 
provocation,  to  summon  the  militia  of  the  neighboring 
counties  to  their  assistance.3  Any  step  towards  the  sol- 
diers' withdrawal  on  account  of  the  expense  imposed  by 

'  »  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  ii.,  Acts    1680;  see  also  Colonial  Entry- 
Book,  vol.  1676-81,  p.  384. 

2  Minutes  of  Council,  July,  1680,  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1680-95, 
p.  52.  The  number  of  men  composing  each  garrison  remained  the 
same,  as  eight  of  the  colonial  volunteers  were  withdrawn. 

3  See  opinion  of  Colonel  Spencer  expressed  in  a  letter  to  Secre- 
tary Coventry  in  England.     The  garrisons,  he  said,  were  a  "con- 


Indian  Wars  :  Forts  m 

their  maintenance  always  aroused  strong  opposition. 
There  was,  in  1681,  a  proposition  to  discharge  the 
troops  stationed  in  the  Potomac  fort,  as  it  was  found  to 
be  both  difficult  and  burdensome  to  provide  them  with 
victual.  The  persons  who  had  first  undertaken  the 
contract  to  supply  it  having  declined  to  do  so  any 
longer,  George  Brent  and  William  Fitzhugh,  looking 
upon  the  place's  abandonment  as  a  public  calamity, 
came  forward  and  offered  themselves  as  substitutes, 
so  that  the  garrison  was  able  to  remain  for  the  protec- 
tion of  all  that  part  of  the  Colony.1 

It  was  estimated  that,  for  the  year  1680-81,  the  sup- 
port of  the  four  garrisons  stationed  at  the  heads  of  the 
great  rivers  required  a  tax  of  forty-seven  pounds  of 
tobacco  to  be  levied  on  every  tithable  in  Virginia.2 
In  1682,  the  accounts  of  the  contractors  who  had  agreed 
to  furnish  this  support  showed  that,  during  that  year, 
George  Brent  and  William  Fitzhugh,  the  two  persons 
responsible  for  the  maintenance  of  the  garrison,  in  the 
Potomac  fort,  had,  on  that  score,  not  only  disbursed 
about  one  hundred  and  seventy-five  thousand  pounds 
of  tobacco  for  victual  and  other  supplies,  but  had  ad- 
vanced about  fifteen  thousand  pounds  of  the  same 
commodity;  no  doubt,  for  the  amount  of  the  soldiers' 
wages.  They  had  also  expended  about  eight  thousand 
pounds  for  the  equipment  and  support  of  a  small  body 
of  supernumerary  troops.  Colonel  William  Byrd, 
who  had  undertaken  to  furnish  whatever  would  be 
needed  by  the  garrison  stationed  at  the  head  of  James 
River,  disbursed,  during  the  same  year  also,  about  one 

tinual  check  on  the  Indians  as  a  standing  guard  to  the  frontiers"; 
Colonial  Entry  Book,  1676-81,  p.  384. 

•  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1680-95,  P-  96- 

*  Orders  of  Assembly  for  1 680-1 ,  Colonial  Entry  Book,  vol.  lxxxvi. 


ii2  The  Military  System 

hundred  and  seventy-five  thousand  pounds  of  tobacco 
for  victual  and  other  supplies;  about  fifteen  thousand 
pounds  to  pay  the  soldiers'  wages;  and  about  sixty-five 
hundred  for  the  equipment  and  support  of  forty 
supernumerary  troops.  Colonel  George  Lyddall,  who 
had  undertaken  to  provide  for  the  garrison  stationed 
at  the  head  of  the  Mattaponi,  and  Major  Robert 
Beverley,  for  the  one  at  the  head  of  the  Rappahannock, 
disbursed  on  the  same  accounts  a  total  of  about  one 
hundred  and  five  thousand  pounds  of  tobacco,  and  of 
one  hundred  and  eighty-nine  thousand,  respectively. 
The  whole  cost  of  maintaining  the  four  garrisons  for  one 
year  fell  very  little  short  of  seven  hundred  thousand 
pounds  of  tobacco.  If  we  estimate  this  commodity's 
value  at  a  penny  and  a  half  a  pound,  a  low  rather  than 
a  high  figure,  the  four  garrisons'  support  imposed  on 
the  Colony  an  annual  expense  of  about  four  hundred 
pounds  sterling,  which,  in  purchasing  power,  was  equal 
to  about  eighty  thousand  dollars  in  modern  currency.1 
That  this  very  large  sum  represented  the  expenditure  of 
one  year  alone  and  not  of  two  or  more,  would  seem  to  be 
shown  by  the  allowance  made  to  Colonels  Brent  and 
Fitzhugh,  who,  as  we  have  seen,  had  only  become  the 
undertakers  for  the  garrison  of  Fort  Potomac  twelve 
months  before. 

It  is  not  surprising  to  find  that  it  was  soon  decided 
that  these  garrisons  imposed  a  heavier  charge  than  the 
Colony  could  well  afford  to  bear ;  and  this  conclusion  was 

i  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1682-95,  p.  75.  In  January,  1682-3, 
28,714  pounds  of  tobacco  were  paid  to  Colonels  Fitzhugh  and  Brent 
as  "undertakers"  for  the  Potomac  garrison.  In  1686,  an  allowance 
of  74,910  pounds  was  made  Capt.  Edward  Bacon  on  account  of 
another  garrison,  possibly,  however,  one  stationed  in  a  fort  on 
tide-water;  see  York  County  Records,  vol.  1684-7,  P-  22^»  Va.  St, 
Libr. 


Indian  Wars  :  Forts  113 

reached  the  more  easily  as  the  tribes  which  had  made 
the  erection  of  the  posts  imperative  had  now  sued  for 
peace.1  There  was  a  general  impression  also  that  they 
had  not  answered  quite  fully  the  purpose  for  which  they 
were  intended.  Gradually,  the  houses  built  for  these 
four  garrisons  fell  into  ruin,  or  were  dismantled,  and  the 
Acts  of  Assembly  requiring  them  to  be  kept  up  per- 
manently were  repealed.  Even  when  they  were  first 
constructed,  they  were  described  as  being  "  only  slight 
Virginian  houses"  to  shelter  men  from  the  weather, 
with  palisades  around  them  to  serve  as  a  barrier  in 
case  of  an  assault.  Indeed,  it  was  said  at  the  time 
that  they  were  "mere  shadows  of  forts.,,2 

From  the  facts  stated  in  the  previous  paragraphs, 
it  is  evident  that,  from  an  early  date  in  the  Colony's 
history,  the  frontier,  although  always  moving  further 
outward,  was  protected  by  forts, — some,  like  those 
erected  under  the  Acts  of  1646  and  1676,  of  a  more  or 
less  permanent  character;  others,  like  those  erected 
under  the  Act  of  1679,  °f  a  purely  temporary;  but  each 
serving  more  or  less  effectively  the  general  purpose  for 
which  it  was  designed.  While  an  Indian  war  was  in 
progress,  the  life  led  by  the  soldiers  belonging  to  the 
garrisons  of  these  posts  was,  no  doubt,  full  of  bustle 
and  interest.  There  was  not  one  moment,  whether  in 
the  day  or  night,  when  the  men  were  entirely  free  from 
apprehension  of  attack.  They  were  never  deceived 
by  the  silence  and  peace  of  the  surrounding  forests, 
for,  in  an  instant,  it  might  be  broken  by  a  thousand 
hideous  yells  from  bands  of  savages  lurking  in  the  under- 
brush, and  by  the  answering  battle-cry  of  the  soldiers 

»  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  ii.,  p.  498. 

2  Minutes  of  Assembly,  Dec.  21,  1682,  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1682- 
95,  p.  66. 

VOL.  II-  S 


ii4  The  Military  System 

from  behind  their  breastworks  of  log  and  palisade.  At 
the  height  of  a  war,  the  troops  slept  on  their  arms 
ready  to  spring  to  their  feet  at  the  first  sound  of  alarm. 
During  such  a  period,  too,  they  made  short  incursions 
into  the  country  around  the  fort;  and  these  marches 
were  rendered  the  more  exciting  by  the  wariness 
required  to  avoid  an  ambuscade.  Expeditions  of  this 
kind  relieved  the  tension  of  life  in  the  fort  itself.  But 
when  the  tribes  had  been  subdued  and  the  garrisons 
had  no  reason  to  anticipate  an  attack,  the  soldier's 
existence  in  so  remote  and  secluded  a  spot  must  have 
been  marked  by  extraordinary  monotony ;  it  is  true  that 
he  had  the  companionship'  of  a  considerable  body  of 
men,  and  was,  no  doubt,  allowed  to  divert  himself  in 
their  company  with  various  games;  but  in  spite  of  this, 
his  hours  must  have  hung  heavily,  and  his  time  passed 
slowly.  He  perhaps  not  infrequently  regretted  the 
days  when  the  prospect  of  conflict  with  the  Indians 
imparted  an  extraordinary  interest  to  every  hour  of 
the  twenty-four. 


CHAPTER  IX 
Indian  Wars  :  Rangers 

AFTER  the  four  standing  garrisons  were  disbanded 
in  1682,  it  being  still  looked  upon  as  unwise  to 
leave  the  frontiers  entirely  unguarded,  the  As- 
sembly provided  that  eighty  light  horsemen  should  be 
enlisted  to  patrol  the  borders.  These  troopers  were 
chosen  from  the  four  principal  frontier  counties,— - 
Henrico,  New  Kent,  Rappahannock,  and  Stafford, — 
because  it  was  in  these  counties  that  the  upper  regions 
of  the  four  great  rivers  were  situated,  the  regions  calling 
for  the  most  constant  inspection  as  those  most  open  to 
the  incursions  of  hostile  tribes;  and  also  because  it  was 
in  these  counties  that  it  was  easiest  to  find  men,  not 
only  thoroughly  familiar  with  the  country  to  be  scoured, 
but  of  long  experience  in  every  branch  of  Indian  war- 
fare.1 There  was  attached  to  each  of  several,  if  not  of 
all,  of  the  four  garrisons  which,  previous  to  1682,  had 
been  stationed  near  the  storehouses  erected  on  the 
Potomac,  Rappahannock,  Mattaponi,  and  James  Rivers, 
as  already  described,  a  small  body  of  horsemen  who  had 
performed  duties  like  those  now  undertaken  by  the 
Rangers;  but  whilst  that  body,  no  doubt,  made  many 
excursions,  it  probably  did  not  wander  very  far  from 
the  fort  to  which  the  men  belonged.  It  formed  an 
important  part  of  the  fighting  force  of  that  post,  and 

1  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  ii.,  p.  498. 

115 


n6  The  Military  System 

its  services  could  not  have  been  long  dispensed  with. 
During  the  whole  time  these  troopers  were  stationed  on 
the  frontier,  a  war  with  the  Indians  was  in  progress, 
which  made  it  the  more  urgent  that  they  should  be 
near  the  fort  almost  without  any  interval  of  absence.1 
On  the  other  hand,  the  work  designed  for  the  light 
horsemen  organized  in  1682  was  to  be  of  a  less  bold  and 
aggressive  character;  no  open  war  was  now  going  on, 
and  there  were  no  forts  or  storehouses  to  be  guarded; 
it  followed  that  their  only  duty  was,  after  the  manner 
of  mounted  scouts,  to  move  from  point  to  point  to 
observe  whether  there  was  any  sign  of  secret  marauding 
on  the  part  of  the  Indian  tribes. 

A  muster  of  the  Rangers  belonging  to  each  of  the  four 
regions  lying  towards  the  headwaters  of  the  great 
rivers  was  ordered  to  be  held  at  least  once  a  year;  and 
not  less  than  once  every  fortnight,  they  were  to  pass 
over  the  country  assigned  to  their  charge .  Immediately 
upon  the  discovery  of  a  war-party  of  Indians,  they  were 
to  dispatch  one  of  their  own  number  to  the  nearest 
officer  of  the  militia;  who  in  his  turn  was  to  take  prompt 
steps  to  inform  the  higher  military  authorities  of  the 
presence  of  a  hostile  force;  and  he  was  also  to  go  for- 
ward to  meet  that  force,  and  either  check  its  further 
advance  or  exterminate  it  altogether.  The  captain  of 
each  troop  of  Rangers  was  required  to  be  a  property 
holder  residing  in  the  district;  and  in  his  absence,  the 
corporal  assumed  the  command.  The  importance  of 
the  positions  occupied  by  these  two  officers  was  shown 

1  The  commanders  of  garrisons  were  authorized  by  the  General 
Assembly  to  impress  a  man  and  horse  in  the  vicinity  to  carry  a 
message  to  the  Governor  or  the  nearest  member  of  the  Council. 
It  was  declared  that  to  send  a  trooper  on  such  an  errand  would 
curtail  the  strength  of  the  post  too  much ;  see  Colonial  Entry  Book, 
1680-95,  p.  207. 


Indian  Wars  :  Rangers  117 

by  the  fact  that  the  one,  for  his  annual  salary,  received 
as  much  as  eight  thousand  pounds  of  tobacco ;  and  the 
other  as  much  as  three  thousand;  whilst  the  wages  of 
the  common  soldier  amounted  to  two  thousand  pounds. 
But  every  member  of  the  troop,  from  the  highest  to  the 
lowest,  was  expected  to  supply  himself,  at  his  own 
expense,  with  a  horse,  arms,  ammunition,  victual,  and 
other  necessaries.1 

An  Act  passed  in  1684  renewed  the  main  provisions  of 
the  previous  measure.  The  number  of  Rangers  in  each 
corps,  however,  was  to  be  larger;  each  was  to  contain 
thirty  men  instead  of  twenty;  and  should  sufficient 
volunteers  not  offer  to  make  up  the  necessary  force, 
the  captain,  by  a  warrant  from  the  Governor,  was 
authorized  to  impress  as  many  members  of  the  militia 
as  should  be  wanted  to  complete  the  body.  The 
commanders-in-chief  of  the  counties  furnishing  these 
soldiers  were  to  recommend  whatever  person  belonging 
to  the  troop  they  should  think  the  fittest  to  receive  the 
lieutenantship;  and  in  the  captain's  absence,  this 
person  was  to  succeed  to  that  officer's  place.  Every 
member  of  the  company  being  still  required  to  supply 
his  own  horse  and  general  equipment,  the  captain's 
annual  salary  was  fixed  at  ten  thousand  pounds  of 
tobacco,  and  the  lieutenant's  and  each  private  soldier's 
at  five  and  three  thousand  respectively.  Once  a  week, 
instead  of  once  a  fortnight  as  formerly,  the  captain  was 
to  cause  his  men  to  assemble  at  the  rendezvous  for  the 
purpose  of  making  a  tour  of  the  country  assigned  to 
them  to  scour.  In  order  to  facilitate  their  passage  of 
the  great  streams  in  the  course  of  this  tour,  a  boat  was 
ordered  to  be  placed  at  a  convenient  point  on  each  of 

»  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  ii.,  p.  498.  This  Act  was  renewed  in 
1683;  see  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1680-95,  p.  166. 


n8  The  Military  System 

the  most  important  rivers  flowing  through  the  country 
they  were  obliged  to  patrol,  such  as  the  James,  the 
Pamunkey,  the  Rappahannock,  and  the  Occaquan.1 
Before  two  years  had  passed,  it  was  concluded  that 
the  Colony's  revenues  did  not  justify  the  maintenance 
of  the  different  corps  of  Rangers.  The  annual  expendi- 
ture on  their  account  was  estimated  to  have  amounted 
to  at  least  five  hundred  thousand  pounds  of  tobacco,2 — 
which  represented  about  thirty-one  hundred  pounds 
sterling,  with  a  purchasing  power  of  sixty  thousand 
dollars  in  modern  currency.  But  the  usefulness  of 
the  Rangers  was,  after  their  disbandment,  only  too 
clearly  perceived  whenever  there  was  a  prospect  of 
war  with  the  Indian  tribes;  under  these  circumstances, 
the  plan  was  soon  adopted  of  organizing  a  small  body 
of  light  horsemen  for  special  service.  This  occurred  in 
1690,  at  which  time  apprehension  of  a  French  and 
Indian  invasion  prevailed.  The  Governor,  acting  under 
the  authority  of  a  law  recently  passed,  gave  orders  to 
the  commanders  of  the  militia  belonging  to  the  counties 
situated  near  the  upper  waters  of  the  four  great  rivers, 
to  enlist  eleven  troopers  in  each  of  those  regions,  each 
of  these  corps  to  be  placed  under  the  command  of  a 
lieutenant  suggested  by  the  member  of  the  Governor's 
Council  residing  in  the  part  of  the  Colony  where  that 
particular  corps  had  been  raised.  It  was  the  duty  of 
these  small  bodies  of  troops  to  pass  from  river  to  river 
in  their  respective  districts  not  less  than  once  a  week; 
and  i£  occasion  demanded  it,  even  more  frequently. 

»  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  iii.,  p.  17.  Capt.  William  Soane  com- 
manded the  Henrico  County  Rangers  in  1685 ;  see  his  claim  to  com- 
pensation for  the  loss  of  a  horse  in  the  service;  Henrico  County 
Records,  vol.  1682-1701,  p.  118,  Va.  St.  Libr. 

2  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  iii.,  p.  38;  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1682-95, 
p.  182. 


Indian  Wars  :  Rangers  119 

As  soon  as  they  should  observe  the  enemy's  approach, 
they  were  to  inform  the  nearest  officer  of  militia;  he 
in  his  turn  was  to  inform  the  commander-in-chief  of 
the  county;  and  the  commander,  the  Governor.  In  the 
meanwhile,  all  the  forces  in  that  immediate  division  of 
country  were  to  be  put  in  motion  to  stop  the  enemy's 
advance.  In  order  that  there  might  never  be  delay, 
a  certain  section  of  the  militia  were  always  held  in 
readiness  to  co-operate  with  the  Rangers  on  a  minute's 
notice;  and  two  Indian  scouts  were  also  attached  to 
each  corps  of  the  latter.1 

These  small  bodies  of  men  were  also  employed  dur- 
ing a  part  of  1691,  in  scouring  the  same  regions.2 
The  Council  gave  orders  that,  from  November  15th 
to  March  1st,  they  should  remain  disbanded,  on  the 
ground  that  it  was  contrary  to  the  habits  of  the 
Indians  in  this  division  of  America  to  make  an  in- 
cursion during  the  winter  season,  and  that  some 
relief  to  the  taxpayers  would  be  created  by  remov- 
ing, for  that  length  of  time,  the  burden  of  maintain- 
ing the  Rangers.3     It  was,  however,  soon  found  that 

1  B.  T.  Va.,  1690,  No.  11;  Orders  of  Council,  March  7,  1690, 
Colonial  Entry  Book,  1680-95.  The  wage  of  the  Indian  scouts 
consisted  of  eight  yards  of  duffield  cloth,  two  barrels  of  Indian  corn, 
and  a  horse  and  saddle  apiece.  The  following  is  from  the  Henrico 
County  Records  under  date  of  1691:  "Lieut.  Giles  Webb  for  himself 
and  two  Indians  in  part,  1 105  lbs;  to  ye  owners  of  ye  Indians'  horses 
each  778  lbs. ;  to  eleven  soldiers  each,  352  lbs. ;  equal  to  3872  lbs.  " 

2  Minutes  of  Assembly,  April  5,  1692,  Colonial  Entry  Book, 
1682-95.  When  tne  General .  Assembly  convened  in  1691,  it  ap- 
proved the  action  of  the  Governor  with  reference  to  the  Rangers, 
and  empowered  him  to  continue  them  as  long  as  he  should  deem 
it  advisable.  That  body  also  gave  orders  that  a  road  should  be 
built  from  a  point  above  the  last  settlement  on  James  River  to  a 
point  on  Rappahannock  River,  also  above  the  settlements;  see 
Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  iii.,  pp.  82-5. 

3  Orders  of  Council,  Oct.  27,  1691,  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1680-95. 


120  The  Military  System 

the  savages  were  not  inclined  to  linger  in  their  own 
towns  until  the  spring  had  opened;  in  December, 
serious  depredations  were  committed  by  them  in 
Stafford  county,  although  the  weather  was  unusually 
severe.  The  Potomac  Rangers,  having  been  ordered 
to  go  in  pursuit,  soon  came  upon  the  track  of  the 
marauders;  and  following  them  up  rapidly,  captured 
the  whole  number  at  a  point  situated  thirty  miles 
beyond  the  last  plantation.1 

An  Act  passed  in  1692  continued  the  same  bodies  of 
men  in  service;  and  this  measure  was  renewed  in  1693 
and  1695.  The  Governor  and  Council,  by  the  provision 
of  these  laws,  were  impowered  to  organize  a  super- 
numerary troop  for  co-operation  with  each  of  the  bands 
of  Rangers.  The  officers  of  this  additional  force  were 
to  be  paid  large  salaries  in  consideration  of  their  supply- 
ing themselves,  at  their  own  expense,  with  horses, 
arms,  ammunition,  food,  and  whatever  else  was  re- 
quired.2 The  cost  of  supporting  so  large  a  number  of 
soldiers  did  not  now  fall  entirely  on  the  taxpayers  of 
the  Colony;  had  it  done  so,  the  General  Assembly  would 
not  have  left  it  in  the  discretion  of  the  Governor  and 
Council  to  raise  and, disband  the  several  corps.  The 
import  duty  on  liquors,  at  this  time,  brought  in  an 
annual  revenue  of  one  thousand  pounds  sterling ;  and 
this  large  sum  could  now  be  appropriated  for  military 
purposes.3     Under  the  authority  granted  them,   the 

»  Orders  of  Council,  Oct.  27,  Dec.  8,  1691,  Colonial  Entry  Book, 
1680-95.  The  Indians  were  escorted  to  Jamestown.  They  do 
not  seem  to  have  gone  beyond  acts  of  robbery  and  destruction  of 
property. 

2  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  iii.,  p.  98. 

3  B.  T.  Va.t  1692,  No.  118.  The  charge  on  the  taxpayers,  how- 
ever, was  always  considerable.  The  following  is  from  the  Henrico 
Records;  see  Public  Levy,  Oct.  5,  1693: 


Indian  Wars  :  Rangers  121 

Governor  and  Council,  in  1694,  increased  the  band  of 
Rangers  assigned  to  the  region  of  the  upper  waters  of 
the  Potomac ;  and  also  the  one  engaged  in  patrolling  the 
country  lying  on  the  upper  waters  of  the  James.  About 
eighteen  new  men  were  added  to  each  corps  because 
Colonel  Richard  Lee  had  reported  the  presence  of 
strange  Indians  on  the  Potomac  frontier,  where  they 
had  inflicted  already  considerable  damage.1  Four 
years  later,  there  being  no  reason  to  anticipate  an 
Indian  attack,  and  the  winter  being  close  at  hand, 
the  Rangers  were  again  disbanded,  but  apparently 
only  for  a  time.2 

It  is  probable  that  much  less  difficulty  was  found  in 
securing  volunteers  to  serve  as  Rangers  than  as  mem- 
bers of  the  stationary  garrisons;  for  the  life  led  by 
the  former  appealed  far  more  strongly  to  the  taste 
of  the  young  Virginian  of  that  day  than  the  life  led  by 
the  latter.  The  Rangers  were  always  on  horseback  and 
in  motion;  and  though  required  to  patrol  a  particular 
division  of  the  frontier,  were  never  bound  to  hark 
back  to  one  spot.  The  freedom,  the  freshness,  the 
remoteness  of  the  primaeval  woods  was  all  theirs. 
Passing  day  after  day  through  the  intricacies  of  the 
pathless  forests, — which  were  now  clothed  in  the  thick 
foliage  of  spring  and  summer,  or  now  stripped  naked 
by  the  winds  of  the  late  autumn  and  winter, — they 

* '  To  ye  owners  of  ye  two  horses  for  the  Indians     .   1556  lbs.  of  tob. 
To  their  pay  .  ......   1189     "     "  tobo. 

To  ye  Lieut,  and  1 1  soldiers  head  of  James  River     3447     "     "     "  " 

The  levy  in  Lancaster  County,  Dec.  14,  1693,  for  the  same  pur- 
pose amounted  to  7375  pounds  of  tobacco;  the  levy  in  Lower  Nor- 
folk to  2000  lbs. ;  in  York  to  4270;  and  in  Potomac  to  3375. 

»  Minutes  of  Council,  June  13,  1694,  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1680- 
1695. 

2  Minutes  of  Council,  Oct.  28,  1698,  B.  T.  Va.,  vol.  liii. 


i22  The  Military  System 

were  always  changing  their  surroundings,  and  thus 
evaded  the  monotony  of  scene  and  occupation  that 
must  have  rendered  so  stagnant  the  ordinary  existence 
of  the  soldiers  belonging  to  the  garrisons.  Apart  from 
the  possibility  of  encountering  the  savages  as  they 
advanced  from  hill  to  hill  and  valley  to  valley,  under 
that  vast  roof  of  green  leaves  or  bare  limbs,  they  were 
constantly  starting  up  game,  which  afforded  both  sport 
for  the  moment  and  food  for  the  daily  meal.  The 
bear,  the  deer,  the  wild  turkey,  the  pheasant, — they 
must  have  hourly  crossed  the  paths  of  these  wandering 
guardsmen ;  and  it  required  the  motion  of  a  second  only 
to  unsling  the  carbine  and  empty  its  contents  into  the 
fleeing  quarry.  Such  a  company,  mounted  on  their 
spirited  plantation  horses,  and  dressed  in  the  buckskin 
costume  of  the  frontier  as  that  best  adapted  to  stand 
hard  wear,  must  have  presented  a  remarkable  spectacle 
as  they  moved  along  through  those  remote  scenes; 
there  was  a  romantic  wildness  about  their  situation,  a 
silent  grandeur  in  their  surroundings,  independently  of 
the  mere  picture  formed  by  their  own  procession,  which 
must  at  times  have  impressed  the  dullest  mind  among 
them.  And  at  night,  as  they,  having  picketed  their 
horses,  gathered  in  the  bivouac  and  sat  or  reclined  in 
the  half  light  of  their  fire,  with  that  vast  and  impene- 
trable darkness  rising  like  a  wall  in  the  background, 
and  with  those  mysterious  sounds  of  nocturnal  insects, 
birds,  and  animals,  and  moaning  tree  tops,  breaking 
the  silence  whenever  their  own  voices  sank  low  or 
ceased  entirely,  the  scene  could  hardly  have  failed  to 
strike  even  them,  though  accustomed  to  its  repetition 
once  every  twenty-four  hours. 


CHAPTER  X 
Foreign  Invasion:  Early  Forts 

NOT  all  the  measures  adopted  for  the  Colony's 
protection  were  designed  to  raise  a  strong  bar- 
rier against  Indian  incursions;  the  steps  taken 
to  guard  against  foreign  invasion  from  the  direction  of 
the  sea  were  even  more  careful  and  elaborate.  This 
was  especially  true  of  the  forts  erected  at  certain 
eligible  points  along  the  edge  of  the  lower  tidewater, 
which,  in  spite  of  numerous  defects  springing  from 
inadequate  materials  and  poor  workmanship,  were 
very  much  superior  as  mere  fortifications,  whether  in 
the  skill  shown  in  their  construction,  or  in  elements  of 
permanency,  to  that  series  of  stockaded  forts  and 
palisaded  houses  which  had,  from  time  to  time,  been 
built  at  the  heads  of  all  the  principal  streams,  from  the 
Nansemond  in  the  south  to  the  Potomac  in  the  north. 
The  first  fort  raised  in  Virginia  by  the  English 
settlers  was  erected  at  Jamestown  not  long  after  the 
Colony  was  founded  at  that  place.  In  the  beginning, 
it  was  of  the  rudest  and  most  perishable  design,  for  it 
was  formed  simply  by  casting  together  the  limbs  of  trees 
in  the  shape  of  a  half  moon.  The  work  was  done  with 
extraordinary  pains,  but  nevertheless  in  haste  as  a 
means  of  protection  should  an  attack  be  made  by  the 
Indians  from  the  direction  of  the  land,  or  by  the  Span- 
iards from  the  direction  of  the  river.     The  construction 

123 


124  The  Military  System 

of  the  fort  was  under  the  supervision  of  Captain  Ken- 
dall. 1  An  assault  by  the  savages  proved  that  a  stronger 
fortification  was  needed.  The  new  structure  was  in 
the  shape  of  a  triangle,  with  the  base,  which  was  four 
hundred  and  twenty  feet  in  length,  resting  on  the  stream, 
and  with  each  side  running  back  three  hundred  feet  in 
length.  A  watch  tower  was  situated  at  each  angle; 
and  on  the  top  of  each  of  these  "bulwarks,"  as  they 
were  designated,  pieces  of  ordnance  were  mounted  in 
such  a  manner  as  to  command  the  approaches  from 
that  quarter.  This  ordnance  consisted  in  part  of 
culverins,  and  in  part  of  demi-culverins.  Sometimes, 
they  seem  to  have  been  loaded  with  stones,  which  were  as 
well  calculated  to  frighten  the  Indians  as  iron  shot  when 
hurled  through  the  branches  of  the  forest  over  their 
heads.  The  principal  gunner  of  this  fortification  at 
first  was  probably  Robert  Tindall,  who,  before  coming 
out  to  Virginia,  had  served  in  that  capacity  to  Prince 
Henry.2 

When  Smith  became  President  of  the  Colony,  he 
seems  to  have  changed  the  shape  of  the  fort  from  one 
of  three  to  one  of  five  sides.3  With  his  usual  practical 
sagacity,  he  determined  not  to  rely  upon  this  fortifi- 
cation alone  as  a  means  of  protection  should  a  foreign 

»  Works  of  Captain  John  Smith,  vol.  i.,  p.  151,  Richmond  edition. 

2  Percy's  Narrative,  p.  lxx.,  Works  of  Captain  John  Smith,  Arber's 
edition;  see  also  Works,  vol.  i.,  p.  163,  Richmond  edition;  Tyler's 
Cradle  of  the  Republic,  p.  70;  Brown's  First  Republic,  p.  129; 
Brown's  Genesis  of  the  United  States,  vol.  i.f  p.  108. 

3  Works  of  Captain  John  Smith,  vol.  i.,  p.  192,  Richmond  edition. 
In  his  account  of  the  site  of  Old  Jamestown,  one  of  the  most  re- 
markable contributions  made  in  recent  years  to  the  study  of  the 
history  of  Virginia,  Mr.  S.  H.  Yonge  suggests  that  the  expression 
used  by  Smith  should  be  considered  as  applying  to  the  form  of 
the  town  after  its  enlargement;  see  Va.  Maga.  of  Hist,  and  Biog., 
vol.  xi.,  p.  275. 


Foreign  Invasion  :  Early  Forts        125 

enemy  press  so  far  up  the  James, — he  also  built  a  second 
fort  "near  a  convenient  river  upon  a  high  commanding 
hill"  as  a  place  to  which  the  English  might  retreat 
should  they  be  compelled  to  abandon  Jamestown  by 
the  superior  forces  and  weapons  of  an  invading  foe.1 
When  Smith  returned  to  England,  the  colonists  were 
in  possession  of  twenty-four  pieces  of  heavy  ordnance, 
an  ample  number  for  the  defence  of  every  fortification 
they  had  erected.2  In  order  to  protect  Jamestown  on 
the  side  on  which  it  was  still  open  to  attack,  a  block- 
house was  built  at  a  point  where  it  would  command 
the  principal  approach  from  the  mainland;  a  second 
blockhouse  was  erected  after  Dale's  arrival  in  161 1 ;  and 
a  third  before  the  Company's  charter  was  revoked  in 
1624. 3 

Under  the  regulations  enforced  by  Dale,  the  sanitary 
condition  of  the  fort  at  Jamestown  was  carefully  looked 
after.  No  one  was  permitted  to  wash  soiled  linen  in 
the  street  of  the  town,  or  throw  dirty  water  out  of 
their  doors  or  windows,  or  to  rinse  a  foul  kettle  or  pan 
near  the  well,  for  fear  lest  the  air  circulating  within  the 
fortification's  confines  might  become  contaminated, 
and  the  health  of  those  in  charge  seriously  affected.4 
Such  regard  for  hygienic  laws  was  extraordinary  in 
these  early  times,  and  indicates  the  minute  thought- 
fulness  of  the  general  rules  adopted  by  Dale  for  the 
physical  well-being  of  the  colonists. 

«  Works  of  Captain  John  Smith,  vol.  i.,  p.  227,  Richmond  edition. 
This  fort,  it  seems,  was  never  quite  finished.  A  curious  stone  house 
stood  until  recent  years  on  a  plot  of  high  ground  near  the  lower 
Chickahominy  River,  and  this  is  supposed  to  have  been  the  fort 
referred  to  in  the  text;  see  Howe's  Virginia. 

2  Works  of  Captain  John  Smith,  vol.  i.,  p.  240,  Richmond  edition. 

3  Tyler's  Cradle  of  the  Republic,  p.  100. 

4  Divine  and  Martial  Laws,  p.  15,  Force's  Historical  Tracts,  vol.  iii. 


126  The  Military  System 

The  second  fort  fronting  on  tide-water  erected  in 
Virginia  was  situated  at  the  modern  Point  Comfort 
near  the  mouth  of  the  James.  This  fortification,  known 
at  first  as  Fort  Algernon,  was  a  mere  earthwork  un- 
supported by  either  stone  or  brick.  In  1611,  it  seems 
to  have  consisted  of  a  stout  stockade  standing  probably 
within  a  line  of  earthen  walls;  at  this  time,  it  contained 
seven  pieces  of  heavy  ordnance  and  several  of  lighter 
weight,  while  its  garrison  numbered  forty  persons, 
armed  with  arquebuses,  and  commanded  by  Captain 
John  Davis.1  This  spot  was  selected  as  the  site  of  a  for- 
tification because  the  river's  channel  here,  in  spite  of  the 
stream's  great  width,  was  so  narrow  that  it  was  possible 
for  the  smallest  cannon  to  project  a  missile  in  full  force 
across  it.  As  all  vessels  bound  up  the  James  were  com- 
pelled to  pass  by  way  of  this  channel  very  near  to  the 
shore,  it  was  supposed  that  a  fort  here  could  easily  stop 
the  further  progress  of  a  hostile  ship.  Such  a  fort  was 
more  important  at  first  because,  in  the  beginning,  the 
several  settlements  were  planted  on  the  James  River. 
Fortress  Monroe  is  to-day,  of  all  the  fortifications  of 
English  origin  on  the  American  continent,  the  most 
ancient ;  the  continuity  of  its  history  is  almost  unbroken 
owing  to  the  existence,  throughout  three  hundred 
years,  of  the  same  fact,  namely,  the  contracted  area 
of  deep  water  at  this  point;  and  this  condition  will 
continue  to  make  the  presence  of  a  fort  on  this  spot 
advisable  unless  the  character  of  modern  warfare 
undergoes  an  extraordinary  change. 

»  Report  on  Voyage  to  Virginia,  Brown's  Genesis  of  the  United 
States,  vol.  ii.f  pp.  516,  519.  This  fort  saluted  Dale  on  his  arrival 
in  161 1 ;  see  Dale's  Letter  to  Council,  printed  in  Brown's  Genesis  of 
the  United  States,  vol.  i.,  p.  489.  After  George  Percy's  departure 
from  the  Colony,  the  name  "Algernon "  given  in  honor  of  the  Percy 
family,  was  discontinued;  see  Brown's  First  Republic,  p.  190. 


Foreign  Invasion:  Early  Forts        127 

When  De  la  Warr,  on  his  arrival  in  Virginia,  assumed 
the  duties  of  the  Governorship,  he  gave  orders  for  the 
erection  of  two  forts  on  the  Southampton  River  at 
Kikotan.  The  sites  chosen  for  them  were  on  opposite 
sides  of  the  stream,  and  only  a  musket  shot  apart.  One 
of  the  objects  designed  in  their  building  seems  to  have 
been  to  afford  to  newcomers  from  England  a  place 
where  they  might  safely  rest  and  refresh  themselves 
after  the  fatigues  and  anxieties  of  a  long  ocean  voyage. 
The  forts,  which  were  named  in  honor  of  Princes  Henry 
and  Charles,  were  defended  by  artillery.  In  their 
immediate  vicinity,  there  was  found  a  wide  area  of 
fertile  cornland,  originally  the  fields  cultivated  by  the 
Indians ;  and  the  whole  surrounding  country  abounded 
in  deer,  fish,  wild  fowl,  and  fruits, — indeed,  so  over- 
flowing was  it  in  all  forms  of  natural  products  suitable 
for  food,  that  the  men  belonging  to  the  garrisons  of  the 
two  posts  received  from  the  public  store  only  one  half 
of  what  was  allowed  in  other  places.1 

De  la  Warr,  during  his  brief  sojourn  in  Virginia, 
gave  orders  that  a  third  fort  should  be  built  at  the  Falls 
of  the  James,  the  head  of  tide- water  in  that  stream. 


*  Works  of  Captain  John  Smith,  vol.  ii.,  p.  6,  Richmond  edition. 
Report  on  Voyage  to  Virginia,  Brown's  Genesis  of  the  United  States, 
vol.  i.,  p.  519;  Hamor's  Discourse,  p.  33.  The  site  of  one  of  these 
forts  was  known  as  "fort  field"  as  late  as  1694;  see  Elizabeth  City 
County  Records,  vol.  1684-99,  P-  57.  Va.  St.  Libr.  The  "fort 
field"  contained  one  hundred  and  ten  acres,  "one  side  upon  John's 
creek,  ye  other  side  upon  a  small  creek  coming  out  of  Hampton 
River,  one  parte  facing  on  James  River  and  soe  running  into  ye 
woods";  see  same  records,  vol.  1684-99,  p.  333,  Va.  St.  Libr.  At 
least  one  of  the  forts  maintained  its  old  outlines  until  1629  as  the 
following  shows:  in  a  deposition  touching  William  Capps,  made 
November  2,  1629,  Lieutenant  Waters  said  of  himself:  "Being  at 
Capt.  Purefoy's  and  walking  in  the  forte,  etc. " ;  see  British  Colonial 
Papers,  1629-30,  No.  32. 


128  The  Military  System 

It  is  not  probable  that  this  fort  was  ever  held  by 
a  garrison;  and  if  built  at  all,  it  is  likely  that  it  was 
very  frailly  constructed.1  Henricopolis,  situated  some 
miles  further  down  the  stream  near  the  line  of  the 
modern  Dutch  Gap  Canal,  was  so  built  by  Dale  that  it 
formed  a  strong  fortification,  whether  attacked  from  the 
side  of  the  land  or  of  the  river.  The  whole  town  was 
surrounded  by  a  stout  stockade,  with  a  watch  tower  at 
each  of  its  four  corners,  where  sentinels  were  stationed, 
and  several  pieces  of  heavy  ordnance  mounted  as  at 
Jamestown.2 

Before  many  years  had  passed,  the  only  two  forts 
kept  up  were  those  situated  at  Jamestown  and  Point 
Comfort.  The  fortification  at  the  latter  place  con- 
sisted, after  Dale  left  the  Colony,  of  a  small  earthen 
fort  surrounded  with  palisades,  within  which  there 
stood  a  storehouse,  a  second  house  used  perhaps  as  a 
powder  magazine,  and  several  thatched  cabins  occupied 
by  the  members  of  the  garrison.  These  buildings 
were  in  time  entirely  destroyed  by  fire.3  When 
Yeardley  arrived  in  1619,  there  were  practically  no 
fortifications  in  Virginia  capable  of  resisting  a  foreign 
enemy.  At  Jamestown,  only  two  demi-culverins  re- 
mained serviceable;  even  these  were  mounted  on  rotten 
carriages;  and  they  were  said  to  be  better  fitted  to 
batter  down  the  houses  in  the  town  than  to  repulse  an 
approaching  foe.4  A  few  months  afterwards,  the 
London  Company  was  compelled  to  borrow  four  minions 

1  Dela  Warr's  Relation,  Brown's  Genesis  of  the  United  States,  vol. 
i.,  p.  481. 

2  Colonial  Records  of  Virginia,  State  Senate  Doct.,  Extra,  1874, 

P-  75- 

3  A  Brief e  Declaration,  Colonial  Records  of  Virginia,  State 
Senate  Doct.,  Extra,  1874,  p.  73. 

*  Ibid.,  p.  80. 


Foreign  Invasion;  Early  Forts        129 

of  the  East  India  Company  for  the  Colony's  defence.1 
The  former  body  now  showed  great  solicitude  as  to  the 
restoration  of  the  fortifications;  a  committee  having 
been  appointed  at  one  of  the  quarter  courts  in  England 
to  recommend  the  measures  to  be  adopted  to  bring 
this  about,  its  members  held  several  interviews  with 
General  Cecil,  a  distinguished  soldier  of  that  period, 
and  the  name  of  an  engineer,  a  Frenchman  by  birth, 
was  suggested  as  the  person  most  capable  of  super- 
vising the  work;  but  apparently  nothing  further  was 
accomplished  at  the  time.2 

In  162 1,  the  Company  directed  Governor  Wyatt  to 
build  forts  and  blockhouses  at  the  mouths  of  the  great 
rivers  as  a  protection  against  a  foreign  enemy.3  In- 
fluenced by  these  instructions  perhaps,  Captain  Samuel 
Each,  of  the  Abigail,  proposed  to  the  Company  that,  if 
they  would  assure  a  full  cargo  for  his  vessel,  both  on 
its  outward  and  return  voyage,  he  would  carry  over  a 
dozen  carpenters,  who,  with  some  assistance  from  the 
colonists,  would,  before  the  end  of  the  year,  raise  a 
fortification  at  Blunt  Point,  on  James  River,  capable  of 
barring  the  passage  of  the  stream  beyond  that  place. 
His  plan  was  to  use  as  the  site  for  this  fortification  the 
enormous  banks  of  oyster  shells  lying  in  the  water  there 
near  the  shore.  The  Company  having  accepted  his 
offer,  promised  to  obtain  for  him  the  necessary  work- 
men; who,  it  was  agreed,  should  be  supplied  with  food 
by  the  people  of  the  Colony,  but,  during  the  progress  of 
construction,  should  be  lodged  in  Each's  ship.  All 
the  tools  required,  such  as  axes,  shovels,  and  spades, 

«  Brown's  First  Republic,  p.  299. 

2  A  committee  was  appointed  in  March,  1619-20.  Abstracts  of 
Proceedings  of  Va.  Co.  of  London,  vol.  i.,  p.  46. 

3  Randolph  MS.,  vol.  iii.,  p.  161. 

vol.  11-9 


iSo  The  Military  System 

were  to  be  sent  over  from  England.  The  Company 
guaranteed  an  amount  of  freight  that  would  assure 
Each  a  round  sum  of  eight  hundred  pounds  sterling; 
and  should  the  process  of  building  be  unavoidably 
continued  beyond  March,  1623,  he  was  to  receive  one 
hundred  and  sixty  pounds  sterling  for  every  month  the 
task  was  prolonged;  but  this  additional  sum  was  to  be 
paid,  not  by  the  Company,  but  by  the  people  of  the 
Colony,  for  whose  protection  the  fort  was  to  be  erected. 
The  cost  of  the  tools  and  instruments  necessary  for 
the  undertaking's  performance  was  estimated  at  three 
hundred  pounds  sterling;  which  amount  was  to  be  ad- 
vanced by  the  Company,  with  the  understanding  that 
it  was  to  be  returned  after  the  sale  of  the  tobacco  crop 
of  the  following  year.  It  was  calculated  that  the  whole 
outlay  to.  be  entailed  by  the  project  would  fall  little 
short  of  two  thousand  pounds  sterling,  equal  in  pur- 
chasing power  at  that  time  to  fifty  thousand  dollars 
in  our  present  currency. 

When  the  workmen  strove  to  dig  below  the  crust  of 
oyster  shells,  they  found  their  further  progress  barred. 
The  Governor  and  Council  seem  to  have  inspected  the 
site  in  person  to  find  out  what  means  should  be  adopted 
to  overcome  the  obstacle;  but  apparently  in  vain;  for 
they  soon  decided  that  the  only  possible  plan  for 
guarding  the  channel  was  to  build  a  fort  on  the 
mainland.  As  the  first  step  toward  erecting  this  forti- 
fication, every  twentieth  man  residing  in  the  Colony 
was  compelled  to  contribute  his  services  towards  the 
prosecution  of  the  work;  and  Captain  Roger  Smith 
was  appointed  to  supervise  their  labors.  Unfortu- 
nately, before  the  fort  was  finished,  the  necessary 
supplies  were  so  nearly  exhausted  that  it  was  found 
impossible  to  maintain  more    "mouths   than   would 


Foreign  Invasion:  Early  Forts        131 

suffice  to  keep  the  place.' '  Apparently,  it  was  never 
entirely  completed.1 

In  the  course  of  April,  1623,  the  Privy  Council  com- 
plained to  the  Governor  that  the  fortifications  were  not 
maintained  to  the  extent  demanded  by  their  importance 
as  the  only  means  of  defence  against  foreign  invasion.2 
Butler,  in  his  effort  to  ruin  the  Colony's  reputation,  as 
a  vent  to  his  disappointment  in  not  obtaining  an  office 
there,  declared  that,  when  he  visited  it,  there  was 
nothing  in  any  of  the  settlements,  whether  at  Kikotan 
or  at  Jamestown,  which  could  be  properly  described  as 
a  fort;  and  that  all  the  fortifications  which  had  been 
erected  had  gone  wholly  to  decay.  In  their  reply  to 
this  attack  made  at  a  time  when  the  people  were  still 
demoralized  by  the  Massacre,  the  Virginian  authorities 
asserted  that,  while  no  fortifications  in  the  strict  sense 
of  the  term  remained,  there  were  several  places 
where  heavy  ordnance  was  still  mounted,  and  still 
capable  of  doing  execution,  should  occasion  demand 
it;  at  Jamestown,  for  instance,  there  were  yet  intact 
four  great  guns;  at  Fleur  de  Hundred,  six;  at  Kikotan 
and  at  Newport's  News  respectively  three;  at  Charles 
City,  two ;  and  at  Henricopolis,  seven.  These  cannons 
consisted  of  culverins  and  demi-culverins ;  and  they  had 
not  been  seriously  injured  by  exposure  to  the  weather.3 

The  laxness  undoubtedly  shown  at  this  time  in  keep- 
ing up  the  fortifications  raised  as  a  defence  against  a 
foreign  attack  was  due  in  part  to  the  Colony's  poverty, 

«  Abstracts  of  Proceedings  of  Va.  Co.  of  London,  vol.  i.,  p.  173; 
Randolph  MS.,  vol.  iii.,  p.  169;  Works  of  Captain  John  Smith,  vol. 
ii.,  p.  64,  Richmond  edition;  British  Colonial  Papers,  1622-3,  No. 
22,  1624-5,  No.  1. 

2  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1606-62,  p.  205. 

3  Abstracts  of  Proceedings  of  Va.  Co.  of  London,  vol.  ii.,  p.  178; 
Neill's  Va.  Co.  of  London,  p.  399. 


132  The  Military  System 

which  made  their  maintenance  a  greater  burden  than 
could  be  easily  sustained;  and  in  part  to  the  sense  of 
security  fostered  by  an  exemption  from  foreign  inter- 
ference from  the  beginning  of  the  Colony's  existence. 
Under  this  double  influence,  the  indifference  complained 
of  by  the  Privy  Council  had  steadily  grown.  Then 
too,  there  was  probably  a  feeling  that,  against  a  really 
strong  foreign  force,  the  only  effective  fortification 
would  be  that  barring  the  narrow  channel  at  Point 
Comfort.  In  March,  1624-5,  the  General  Assembly, 
in  an  address  to  the  English  Government,  declared  that 
the  most  useful  fort  in  Virginia  was  the  one  situated 
at  this  place,  but  that  it  was  a  heavy  charge  on  the 
people's  resources  to  keep  even  this  one  alone  in  good 
condition.1  It  is  probable  that,  by  this  time,  the 
original  fort  at  Point  Comfort,  with  the  possible  ex- 
ception of  the  earthworks  thrown  up  in  the  beginning, 
had  disappeared;  for,  in  May,  1626,  Governor  Wyatt 
is  found  pressing  upon  the  Privy  Council's  attention 
the  urgent  need  of  building  fortifications  near  the 
mouths  of  both  the  York  and  the  James.  At  that 
point  in  its  course,  the  York  greatly  contracted  before 
expanding  into  the  broad  waters  of  the  Bay.  Wyatt 
declared  that,  to  accomplish  these  two  tasks,  it  would 
require  an  annual  contingent  of  at  least  two  hundred 
laborers  to  be  sent  out  from  England  during  a  period  of 
several  years;  and  that  it  would  also  be  necessary  to 
import  a  number  of  skilful  engineers  to  superintend 
the  scientific  construction  of  the  works.  He  also 
claimed  that  one  of  the  most  sensible  advantages  to 
be  obtained  from  the  erection  of  a  palisade  between 
Martin's  Hundred  on  the  James  to  Cheskiack  on  the 

»  British  Colonial  Papers,  1624-5,  No.  8. 


Foreign  Invasion  :  Early  Forts        133 

York  was  that,  within  the  area  thus  protected,  there 
could,  without  difficulty,  be  raised  all  the  draught- 
animals  that  would  be  wanted  to  transport  the  materials 
for  the  projected  structures ;  and  also  the  food  required 
by  the  workmen.1  Any  means  of  lightening  the  ex- 
pense of  building  the  forts,  even  though  as  fanciful  as 
that  suggested  by  Wyatt,  was  eagerly  considered  by 
the  people.  Without  some  assistance  from  the  out- 
side,— so  the  General  Assembly  bluntly  declared  in 
1629, — the  Colony  was  too  poor  to  assume  so  great  an 
undertaking;  nor  is  there  any  reason  to  question  the 
good  faith  and  good  sense  of  the  statement.2  It  is 
true  that  timber  was  easily  procured,  but  then  it  had  to 
be  carried  a  great  distance ;  and  there  were  neither  boats 
of  sufficient  size  to  transport  it  nor  oxen  to  haul  it. 
Workmen  were  lacking  entirely,  or  could  only  be  ob- 
tained at  ruinous  wages;  whilst  tools  could  only  be 
acquired  by  purchase  in  England. 

As  late  as  1629-30,  William  Pierce  was  able  to  assert, 
no  doubt  with  perfect  accuracy,  that  there  was  then  in 
the  Colony  "no  manner  of  fortification"  against  a 
foreign  enemy,3  though  quite  probably  there  were 
still  numerous  guns  to  be  found  at  different  places 
fronting  the  James  River.  For  instance,  only  two  years 
before,  Abraham  Pierce  had,  for  the  defence  of  the 
Hundred  bearing  his  name,  planted  not  less  than  ten 
pieces  of  ordnance,  which  were  ready  at  a  moment's 
notice  to  fire  upon  an  approaching  enemy.4  Three 
years   afterwards   also,   the    General  Assembly   gave 


1  British  Colonial  Papers,  1626-8,  No.  10. 

2  Randolph  MS.,  vol.  iii.,  p.  213. 

3  British  Colonial  Papers,   1629-30,  No.   24;  see  also  Works  of 
Captain  John  Smith,  vol.  ii.,  p.  259,  Richmond  edition. 

*  Robinson  Transcripts,  p.  54. 


134  The  Military  System 

orders  for  the  construction  of  sixteen  carriages,  on 
which  it  was  proposed  to  mount  that  number  of 
guns.1 

»  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  i.,  p.  143. 


CHAPTER  XI 

Foreign  Invasion :  Fort  at  Point  Comfort 
after  1630 

IT  was  not  until  1629-30  that  a  successful  effort  was 
made  to  erect  fortifications  in  Virginia  that  should 
prove  to  be  permanent  in  their  character.  The 
first  of  the  new  forts  to  be  undertaken  was  the  one  built 
at  Point  Comfort  on  the  site  of  the  original  stockade 
and  earthwork.  It  was  thought  at  this  time  that  the 
safety  of  the  greater  part  of  the  Colony  depended  upon 
the  absolute  mastery  of  the  narrow  channel  here;  and 
that  one  strong  fortification  at  this  spot  would,  in  the 
way  of  defence  against  a  foreign  enemy,  accomplish 
more  than  a  half  dozen  situated  higher  up  the  river.  In 
a  letter  addressed  by  Governor  Harvey  to  the  English 
Government,  in  1629,  with  a  view  to  securing  skilful 
mechanics,  he  urged  that  fifty  men,  furnished  with  all 
the  tools,  food,  and  clothing  which  they  would  require 
for  one  year,  should  be  sent  to  Virginia  at  once  to  begin 
the  construction;  and  that  for  a  period  of  three  years, 
fifty  workmen  annually  should  be  despatched  thither 
to  fill  all  vacancies  caused  among  the  first  contingent 
by  sickness  or  death.  Harvey  affirmed  that  this 
fortification  could  be  easily  completed  by  the  end  of 
thirty-six  months;  and  that  the  whole  expense  to  be 
entailed  could  be  made  good  by  hiring  out  the  work- 
men as  agricultural  servants  as  soon  as  their  labors  on 

135 


136  The  Military  System 

the  fort  should  terminate;  or  they  might  be  employed 
in  building  a  second  fort  at  some  point  situated  further 
up  the  James.  According  to  the  estimate  furnished 
by  Harvey  at  this  time,  there  were  now  only  about 
twenty  pieces  of  ordnance  in  Virginia :  and  these  con- 
sisted of  culverins,  demi-culverins,  and  sakers.  He 
urged  the  English  Government  to  send  out  at  least 
twenty  additional  pieces  in  order  that  the  projected 
fortifications  might  be  fully  armed  to  resist  attack; 
and  he  declared  that,  if  they  were  to  possess  an  ample 
supply  of  powder,  it  would  be  necessary  that  at  least 
forty  barrels  of  this  article  should  be  despatched  at 
once;  and  that  every  succeeding  year  not  less  than 
twenty  barrels,  together  with  a  large  quantity  of  the 
other  munitions  of  war,  should  be  imported  into  the 
Colony.1 

Governor  Harvey's  recommendations  seem  to  have 
made  a  strong  impression  on  the  Privy  Council,  for, 
in  their  reply,  they  instructed  him  to  have  the  site  of 
the  proposed  fort  surveyed,  and  to  send  this  plat, 
together  with  a  model  of  the  structure  itself,  to  England 
for  examination  and  approval.2  Six  months  after  the 
date  of  Harvey's  letter,  the  General  Assembly  engaged 
in  a  lengthy  debate  on  the  subject  of  the  same  forti- 
fication, and  in  March,  1629-30,  ended  by  passing  an 
Act  providing  for  its  early  erection.3  The  general 
plan  agreed  upon  was  to  build  a  fort  which  would  afford 
room  for  not  less  than  twelve,  nor  more  than  sixteen, 
pieces  of  heavy  ordnance;  and  the  hope  was  expressed 


1  British  Colonial  Papers,  1629-30,  No.  22. 

2  Ibid.     Harvey  sent   the   plat  and  model   to  England  in  the 
course  of  1630;  see  British  Colonial  Papers,  1629-30,  No.  93. 

3  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  i.,  pp.  144,  150;  Randolph  MS.,  vol.  iii., 
p.  214. 


Fort  at  Point  Comfort  after  1630      137 

that  it  would  be  completed  before  the  next  Christmas 
had  rolled  around.  The  whole  cost  of  the  undertaking, 
it  appears,  was  to  be  assumed  by  the  colonists,  although 
so  little  able  to  bear  so  great  an  expense.  That  they 
were  willing  to  do  this  was,  at  the  time,  interpreted  as 
a  proof  of  how  firmly  rooted  in  their  hearts  was  their 
determination  to  make  Virginia  their  permanent  home.1 
Burdensome  as  the  outlay  was,  the  General  Assembly, 
no  doubt,  perceived  that  it  would  be  impossible  to 
allow  Point  Comfort  to  remain  unfortified  without 
jeopardizing  the  safety  of  all  the  people  seated  along 
the  James  River,  and  that  the  Colony  had  as  well 
now  make  the  necessary  sacrifices  to  build  the  fort, 
since  there  was  no  real  prospect  that  this  would  be 
done  by  the  English  Government. 

Samuel  Mathews,  who,  as  we  have  seen,  had  been 
one  of  the  two  persons  contracting  to  build  the  palisade 
across  the  Peninsula,  undertook  alone  to  erect  the  pro- 
jected fort.  Before  he  began  work,  however,  the  site 
at  Point  Comfort  was  carefully  viewed  by  a  committee 
appointed  by  the  General  Assembly,  and  composed, 
with  one  exception,  of  men  now  taking  a  leading  part 
in  the  Colony's  military  affairs,  namely,  Captains 
Robert  Felgate,  Thomas  Purefoy,  Thomas  Grays, 
John  Uty  and  Thomas  Willoughby,  Lieutenant  William 
Perry  and  Mr.  Thomas  Heyrick.  It  was  also  left  to 
them  to  choose  the  model  for  the  proposed  fortification, 
and  to  arrange  with  Mathews  the  terms  of  his  remu- 
neration.2 .  Mathews  must  have  proceeded  with  great 
expedition,  for  by  the  end  of  February,  163 1-2,  the 
work  had  been  completed.     So  little  did  he  spare  his 

«  British  Colonial  Papers,  1629-30,  No.  95. 

2  Herring's  Statutes,  vol.  i.,  p.  150;  British  Colonial  Papers,  1629- 
30,  No.  93. 


138  The  Military  System 

own  means  in  pushing  it  forward,  that  he  sank  a  large 
part  of  his  private  estate  in  carrying  through  his  con- 
tract ;  and  so  well  known  was  this  fact  that  the  Assembly- 
urged  the  Privy  Council,  as  a  way  of  reimbursing  him, 
to  confer  on  him  the  whole  of  the  customs  that,  in  the 
future,  would  be  collected  at  Point  Comfort.1 

The  General  Assembly  adopted  almost  immediately 
the  various  measures  necessary  for  the  preservation  and 
maintenance  of  the  fort .  All  ships  making  up  the  James 
were  ordered  to  deliver  to  the  chief  officer  in  charge  of 
the  fortification  one  barrel  of  powder  and  ten  shot  for 
every  one  hundred  tons  in  their  total  tonnage2;  this 
provision  was  renewed  the  same  year;  but  an  Act 
passed  twelve  months  later  required  the  payment  by 
such  ships  of  only  one  quarter  of  a  pound  of  powder, 
and  a  proportionate  quantity  of  shot,  for  every  ton 
embraced  in  the  burden  of  each  vessel.3  These  laws 
seemed  to  assure  an  ample  supply  of  ammunition.  A 
fund  for  keeping  the  fort  in  good  condition  was  obtained 
by  imposing  on  every  person  arriving  at  Point  Com- 
fort, and  on  every  tithable  belonging  to  his  family,  a 
tax  of  sixty-four  pounds  of  tobacco,  to  be  paid  just  as 
soon  as  he  had,  after  purchasing  or  patenting  a  plan- 
tation, produced  one  crop.4 

The  first  officer  to  be  placed  in  command  of  the  fort 
at  Point  Comfort  was  Francis  Pott,  a  brother  of  the 
Governor  bearing  the"  same  name.     But  he  was  soon 

1  Randolph  MS.,  vol.  iii.,  p.  219. 

*  Ibid.,  p.  218,  Acts  of  March,  163 1-2.  A  Proclamation  by 
Harvey,  dated  Sept.,  1632,  refers  to  the  fort  at  Point  Comfort; 
see  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  i.,  p.  191. 

3  Randolph  MS.,  vol.  iii.,  p.  223. 

*  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  i.,  p.  222.  The  newcomer,  however, 
was  exempted  from  this  tax  if  he  did  not  cultivate  tobacco  the 
first  year  after  his  arrival. 


Fort  at  Point  Comfort  after  1630      139 

deprived  of  the  position  by  Harvey  on  a  pretended 
charge  of  misbehavior;  returning  to  England,  he  was 
thrown  into  the  Fleet  prison,  where,  for  nearly  a  year, 
he  languished  in  constant  danger  of  the  plague,  which 
had  found  its  way  in  among  the  wretched  inmates.1 
Francis  Hook,  who  was  as  much  a  partisan  of  Harvey 
as  Pott  had  been  an  opponent,  followed  next;  but  he 
seems  to  have  managed  the  affairs  of  the  fort  so  badly 
that,  at  his  death,  the  magazine  did  not  contain  enough 
powder  to  afford  a  load  to  discharge  over  his  grave. 
This  was  due  in  part  to  the  fact  that  he  had  loaned  the 
fort's  entire  stock  to  Lieutenant  Upton,  of  Isle  of  Wight 
county,  to  enable  the  latter' s  company  to  repel  an 
Indian  invasion.2  His  memory,  however,  was  not  left 
unhonored  by  a  mournful  salute:  one  hundred  pounds 
of  powder  were  lent  by  Captain  Thomas  Willoughby 
to  be  expended  in  this  manner  by  the  garrison  on  the 
occasion  of  the  interment.3 

Hook  was  followed  by  Capt.  Christopher  Wormeley, 
who  owed  his  appointment  to  Harvey,  since  the 
Governor  of  the  Colony  had  the  right  to  fill  temporarily 
such  a  vacancy  when  caused  by  death.  Wormeley, 
during  the  first  year  of  his  incumbency,  found  it  im- 
possible to  obtain  a  large  supply  of  powder,  as  the 
commanders  of  the  different  vessels  touching  at  Point 
Comfort  asserted  that  they  had  already  paid  their 
quota  to  his  predecessor;  and  the  amount  which  he  did 

1  Captain  Pott  was  charged  with  abetting  Harvey's  deposition; 
see  British  Colonial  Papers,  1634-5,  Nos.  74,  91;  1636-38,  No.  12. 

2  British  Colonial  Papers,  1639-43,  No.  5.  In  recommending 
Hook,  who  had  opposed  Claiborne  in  the  Kent  Island  troubles, 
Harvey  declared  that  he  was  well  known  to  the  Lord  Treasurer, 
and  to  most  of  the  members  of  the  Privy  Council;  see  British 
Colonial  Papers,  1634-5,  No.  54;  also  No.  74. 

3  Robinson  Transcripts,  p.  14. 


140  The  Military  System 

obtain  was  so  poor  in  quality  that  it  hardly  served  to 
fire  a  salute  as  each  ship  took  its  departure,  the 
custom  prevailing  at  this  time.  When  Captain  Richard 
Morryson  arrived  with  a  commission  from  the  King  to 
supersede  Wormeley,  he  found  only  sixteen  pounds  of 
powder  in  the  magazine.1  The  fort  had  now  fallen 
into  decay. 

The  question  arose  as  to  how  the  means  were  to  be 
obtained  for  making  the  necessary  repairs.  Before 
Captain  Hook's  death,  a  register  of  the  passengers 
arriving  at  Point  Comfort  was  carefully  kept,  and  the 
ships  bringing  them  in  were  charged  at  the  rate  of 
sixpence  for  the  entrance  of  each  person's  name  and 
the  administration  to  each  of  the  oaths  of  allegiance 
and  supremacy.  The  design  of  this  tax,  as  of  the  tax 
of  sixty-four  pounds  of  tobacco  to  be  paid  out  of  his 
first  tobacco  crop  by  each  newcomer  for  every  tithable 
in  his  employment,  was  to  assure  a  fund  for  the  fortifi- 
cation's restoration  from  time  to  time ;  but  the  merchants 
introducing  new  settlers  and  indentured  servants  raised 
such  a  clamor  against  this  impost,  small  as  it  was, 
that  it  was  soon  suspended  by  the  action  of  the  Privy 
Council  in  England.2  How  great  was  the  need  for  a 
permanent  fund  of  some  kind  to  keep  the  fort  in  a 
state  of  repair  was  shown  by  the  fact  that,  in  March, 
1639-40,  the  General  Assembly  was  forced  to  lay  a 
general  levy  of  two  pounds  of  tobacco  per  poll  in  order 
to  build  what  was  in  reality  a  new  fort  at  Point  Comfort3 ; 

1  See  Letter  of  Governor  Harvey  and  Council,  British  Colonial 
Papers,  1639-43,  No.  5. 

2  British  Colonial  Papers,  1639-43,  No.  11. 

3  Randolph  MS.,  vol.  iii.,  p.  230;  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  i.,  p.  226. 
Sometime  previous  to  1638,  Harvey  was  authorized  to  levy  a 
general  tax  for  the  same  purpose,  and  steps  seem  to  have  been 
taken  to  send  Menefie  to  England  in  order  to  obtain  the  skilled 


Fort  at  Point  Comfort  after  1630      141 

and  in  order  also  to  secure  the  requisite  quantity  of 
powder  and  shot,  the  former  law  compelling  e very- 
shipmaster  arriving  there  to  deliver  to  the  chief  officer 
an  amount  of  those  materials  proportionate  to  his 
vessel's  tonnage,  was  again  enacted.1 

Every  ship  passing  Point  Comfort  on  its  way  up  the 
James  was  required  to  cast  anchor  within  the  range  of 
the  fortification's  guns.  As  soon  as  it  stopped,  the 
commander  of  the  post  went  on  board  to  collect  the 
duty.  In  that  remote  spot,  the  arrival  of  every  vessel 
from  England  must  have  been  a  pleasant  break  in  the 
monotony  of  existence;  and  no  doubt  the  reception 
given  the  different  sea-captains  was  not  altogether 
formal,  as  they  brought  the  latest  news  from  the  Mother 
Country,  and  not  improbably  some  gift  of  highly 
acceptable  supplies  for  the  officers  of  the  fort  itself. 
But  there  were  times  when  the  commander  had  trouble 
with  the  captain  of  some  one  of  these  ships.  In  16 70-1 
such  an  instance  occurred;  the  captain  of  a  vessel  just 
arrived  was  asked  to  pay  the  usual  duty,  but  declined 
positively  to  do  so ;  he  was  arrested ;  and  when  ordered 
to  go  on  shore,  not  only  refused,  but,  heaping  terms 
of  abuse  on  the  officer,  expressed  the  utmost  contempt 
for  his  authority.  In  the  end,  having  been  forced  to 
appear  before  the  General  Court,  he  was  sentenced  to 
pay  a  fine  of  thirty  pounds  sterling,  one  half  of  which 
was  for  the  King's  use,  the  other  half  for  the  use  of  the 
captain  of  the  fort.2 

workmen  required;  see  British  Colonial  Papers,  1636-8,  No.  97. 
The  captain  of  the  fort  in  1633  was  paid  2000  lbs.  of  tobacco  per 
annum,  and  in  addition,  ten  bushels  of  corn;  the  gunner  1000  lbs. 
of  tobacco,  and  six  bushels  of  corn;  and  the  drummer  the  same; 
Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  i.,  p.  222. 

1  Robinson  Transcripts,  pp.  330-1. 

2  Ibid.,  pp.  29-30. 


142  The  Military  System 

The  office  of  commander  was  not  without  its  draw- 
backs on  account  of  the  insalubrious  situation  of  the 
Fort.  When  Captain  Morryson,  in  1641,  obtained 
permission  to  visit  England,  his  principal  object,  it 
would  seem,  was  to  secure  medicines  for  the  restoration 
of  his  health,  affected  quite  probably  by  the  malarial 
atmosphere  of  the  surrounding  country.  He  entered  in- 
to a  bond  to  return  by  the  first  ship  sailing  for  Virginia ; 
in  the  interval,  the  deputy,  whom  he  was  authorized 
by  his  commission  to  appoint,  was  to  perform  the  duties 
of  the  place.1  Berkeley,  recently  nominated  to  the 
Governorship,  reached  the  Colony  about  this  time,  and 
among  his  instructions  was  one  requiring  him  to  see 
that  at  least  ten  guards  were  maintained  at  Point  Com- 
fort, and  that  the  commander  of  the  post  received  a 
proper  salary;  but  this  officer  apparently  had  no 
reason  to  complain  on  this  account,  for  a  general  tax 
seems  to  have  been  levied  for  his  support.  The  to- 
bacco paid  in  for  his  benefit  was  always  to  be  delivered 
in  a  condition  for  immediate  shipment.2  From  time 
to  time,  special  grants  of  income  were  made  him;  in 
1645,  for  instance,  the  General  Assembly  bestowed  on 
him  the  whole  amount  of  uncollected  rents  and  quit- 
rents  which  had  accrued  from  certain  leased  lands  sit- 
uated in  Northampton  county.  As  it  was  particularly 
designed  in  this  case  to  reward  Captain  Morryson,  the 
payment  was  limited  to  his  continuance  in  office.3 
Nor  were  the  guards  under  his  command  devoid  of 
special  privileges;    by  Act  of  Assembly,   they  were 

»  Robinson  Transcripts,  p.  26.  Francis  Morryson,  a  brother 
of  Richard,  was  in  command  in  1641. 

2  See  Lower  Norfolk  County  Records,  Orders  Sept.  6,  1641. 
Instructions  to  Berkeley  will  be  found  in  Colonial  Entry  Book, 
1606-62,  p.  225. 

«  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  i.,  p.  322. 


Fort  at  Point  Comfort  after  1630      143 

exempted  from  the  legal  process  of  distress1 ;  and  they 
seem  also  to  have  received  very  satisfactory  wages. 

The  commission  granted  to  Berkeley  in  1650  by 
Charles  II.,  at  that  time  residing  at  Breda,  impowered 
him  to  erect  in  Virginia  "castles,  forts,  and  places 
defensible."  These  fortifications,  which  were  to  be 
constructed  "of  lime  and  stone  and  other  materials," 
were  to  be  built  with  walls,  bulwarks,  battlements,  and 
loop-holes.2  One  of  the  most  memorable  concessions 
made  to  the  colonists  in  the  terms  of  the  surrender  to 
Parliament  in  165 1  was  that,  whilst  they  themselves 
should  be  at  liberty  to  erect  forts  and  maintain  garri- 
sons, the  English  Government  should  not  possess  the 
right  to  do  this  in  Virginia  without  its  inhabitants' 
consent.3  The  fort  at  Point  Comfort,  however,  con- 
tinued for  some  years  yet  to  be  the  only  real  fortification 
situated  in  the  Colony  designed  for  defence  against  a 
foreign  enemy ;  and  all  the  Acts  passed  about  this  time 
touching  fortifications  of  that  character  related  appar- 
ently without  exception  to  this  one.  It  was  provided, 
in  1654,  that  every  ship  arriving  at  Point  Comfort 
should  drop  anchor  and  fold  its  sails  at  once ;  and  that 
the  captain  of  the  vessel  should  at  the  earliest  moment 
repair  to  the  commander  of  the  fort  in  order  to  deliver 
a  list  of  the  passengers  on  board,  to  pay  the  customs 
and  castle  duties,  and  it  would  seem,  also,  to  take  an 
oath  that  he  would  obey  the  laws  of  Virginia  during 
his  stay  there.4  The  only  vessel  not  subject  to  the 
castle  duties  was  one  owned  exclusively  by  persons 
residing  in  the  Colony.5 

1  Robinson  Transcripts,  p.  241. 

2  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1606-62,  p.  246. 

3  Randolph  MS.,  vol.  in.,  p.  243. 

4  Ibid.,  p.  260. 
s  Ibid.,  p.  265. 


144  The  Military  System 

So  important  was  the  collection  of  the  castle  duties 
at  Point  Comfort  thought  to  be  that  all  who  refused  to 
pay  them  were  liable  to  an  attachment  of  their  personal 
estates.1  These  duties  were,  in  1660,  granted  to  Gover- 
nor Berkeley  for  his  private  benefit;  but,  the  following 
year,  were  restored  to  Colonel  Francis  Morryson,  now 
in  command  of  the  fort,  to  whom,  as  the  General 
Assembly  declared,  they  "rightly  belonged"  through 
the  gift  of  the  King.2  Morryson,  who  had  probably 
been  displaced  during  the  Puritan  Supremacy,  had 
again  been  nominated  to  his  former  position.  The 
owners  of  the  ships  trading  with  the  Colony  now  made 
a  determined  effort  to  have  the  castle  duties  abolished 
altogether,  on  the  ground  that  there  was  no  fortifica- 
tion there  which  assured  protection  to  vessels ;  but  this 
petition,  instead  of  proving  successful  in  its  main 
object,  only  influenced  the  Privy  Council  to  give  in- 
structions that  these  duties  should  be  paid,  not  as  then 
was  done,  in  goods  or  coin  to  the  amount  of  twelve 
pence  for  every  ton  of  freight,  but  in  powder  and  shot 
as  at  an  earlier  period.3  In  some  parts  of  Virginia  at 
this  time,  an  export  tax  of  three  pennies  a  hogshead 
was  imposed  under  the  name  of  a  fort  duty.4  But  in 
spite  of  all  these  castle  charges,  whether  levied  in  the 
form  of  money  on  imported  merchandise  or  exported 
tobacco,  or  in  the  form  of  ammunition  alone,  the  fort 
at  Point  Comfort  remained,  as  the  merchants  had 
asserted,  incapable  of  resisting  a  really  powerful  enemy. 
This  was  shown  by  the  action  of  the  authorities  in  1665, 
when  hostilities  broke  out  between  the  English  and 

1  Randolph  MS.,  vol.  iii.,  p.  253. 

2  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  ii.,  p.  134;  Robinson  Transcripts,  p.  244. 

3  British  Colonial  Papers,  vol.  xvi.,  No.  93. 

4  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  ii.,  p.  23. 


Fort  at  Point  Comfort  after  1630      145 

Dutch  nations, — so  soon  as  news  of  that  event  reached 
the  Colony,  the  Governor  and  Council  hastily  issued  an 
order  requiring  Colonel  Miles  Cary,  who  seems  to  have 
been  in  command  during  Morryson's  absence  in  England, 
to  impress  men  and  vessels  to  assure  the  prompt  trans- 
portation to  Jamestown  of  all  the  ordnance  at  that  time 
mounted  at  Point  Comfort.1 

The  Colony  now  spread  over  such  a  wide  area  of 
country  that  the  fortification  at  that  place,  even  if  it 
had  been  capable  of  stopping  the  further  progress  of  hos- 
tile ships  making  their  way  up  James  River,  would  have 
afforded  no  protection  at  all  to  the  plantations  situated 
along  the  York,  Rappahannock,  and  Potomac.  Never- 
theless, not  even  yet  did  the  General  Assembly  think 
the  people  could  bear  the  expense  of  erecting  the  addi- 
tional forts  needed  for  the  defence  of  those  settlements. 
In  1665,  however,  the  Governor  was  impowered  by  that 
body  to  build  a  second  fort  apparently  somewhere  with- 
in the  confines  of  Jamestown;  in  order  to  accomplish 
this,  he  was  authorized  to  impress  all  the  mechanics 
and  common  laborers  whom  he  would  require ;  and  also 
to  enter  upon  any  man's  land  and  cut  down  whatever 
timber  would  be  wanted,  provided  that  he  paid  at  the 
rate  of  sixpence  for  each  tree.  Every  person  belonging 
to  the  trained  bands  of  James  City  and  Surry  counties 
was  directed  to  contribute  his  services  during  at  least 
six  days  towards  the  completion  of  the  work;  and 
Captain  William  Bassett  was  employed,  at  a  remuner- 
ation of  ten  thousand  pounds  of  tobacco,  to  supervise 
the  whole  undertaking.  It  was  proposed  that  the 
garrison  of  the  fort  as  soon  as  finished  should  consist  of 
the  guard  attending  the  Governor  at  the  regular  meet- 

1  Va.  Maga.  of  Hist,  and  Biog.%  vol.  v.,  p.  22;  Robinson  Tran- 
scripts, p.  177. 

VOL.  II. IO 


146  The  Military  System 

ings  of  the  General  Court;  and  that  the  Captain  of  that 
guard  should  be  appointed  to  the  position  of  Command- 
ant. By  these  means  it  was  expecte'd  that  the  cost  of 
maintaining  the  fortification  would  be  greatly  reduced.1 
Either  the  English  authorities  did  not  consider  the 
plan  to  build  a  new  fortification  at  Jamestown  advisable, 
or  that  plan  had  not  been  reported  to  them  when,  in  the 
course  of  the  same  year,  they  sent  instructions  to  the 
Governor  and  Council  to  restore  the  fort  at  Point  Com- 
fort to  its  former  state  of  repair,  which,  no  doubt,  was 
intended  to  include  the  return  of  the  ordnance  removed 
during  the  recent  war.  Berkeley,  with  evident  re- 
luctance, was  thus  forced  to  abandon  the  project  of 
strengthening  the  defences  of  Jamestown.  "We  had 
already  designed,,,  he  wrote  to  Arlington  in  July,  1666, 
"a  fort  at  Jamestown  in  the  centre  and  heart  of  the 
country,  but  commanded  so  positively,  we  durst  not 
disobey  to  erect  a  fort  in  the  extremities  of  the  prov- 
ince.' '  2  Thomas  Ludwell,  at  a  later  date,  was  far 
more  outspoken  in  his  opposition;  he  declared  that  the 
fort  at  Point  Comfort  would  require  at  least  forty 
soldiers,  in  addition  to  officers,  to  man  it  properly; 
that  the  country  surrounding  it  was  so  barren  that  the 
garrison  could  not  produce  their  own  bread  by  culti- 
vating it;  that  the  water  was  brackish;  and  that,  how- 
ever strong  the  fortification  there  might  be  made,  it 
would  afford  no  protection  against  foreign  invasion 

1  Herring's  Statutes,  vol.  ii.,  p.  220.  It  would  appear  from  a  letter 
of  Berkeley,  dated  August  1,  1665,  that  the  building  of  other  forts 
was  under  consideration :  "We  want  great  guns  for  the  forts  we  are 
erecting,  but  dare  not  at  this  time  of  exigency  to  beg  them  of  his 
Majesty,  but  will  supply  them  the  best  we  can  out  of  the  merchant 
ships";  British  Colonial  Papers,  vol.  xix.,  No.  85. 

2  British  Colonial  Papers,  vol.  xx.f  No.  117;  see  also  Robinson 
Transcripts,  p.  251 ;  British  Colonial  Papers,  vol.  xx.,  No.  125,  125,  i. 


Fort  at  Point  Comfort  after  1630      147 

to  the  inhabitants  of  those  parts  of  the  Colony  lying  on 
the  other  rivers. x 

Such  objections  having  made  no  impression  on  the 
English  Government,  the  Governor  and  Council  were 
compelled  to  take  active  steps  to  carry  out  its  command. 
An  entirely  new  fort  appears  to  have  been  designed. 
In  order  to  build  it,  one  hundred  and  five  men,  with  the 
necessary  number  of  tools  and  quantity  of  provisions, 
were  impressed  in  the  neighboring  counties  of  Nanse- 
mond,  Lower  Norfolk,  Warwick,  and  Elizabeth  City;  and 
for  their  accommodation,  a  house,  forty  feet  in  length 
and  twenty  in  width,  was  erected  at  the  Point.2  Long 
before  the  main  structure  of  the  fort  had  been  carried 
very  far  in  process  of  building,  it  was  decided  to  mount 
eight  long  guns;  Colonel  Yeo  was  employed  to  do  this; 
and  he  was  impowered  to  enlist  the  services  of  as  many 
men  as  he  would  require.  Among  these  guns  were 
several  formerly  belonging  to  the  frigate  Elizabeth, 
which  had  recently  been  destroyed  by  a  Dutch  fire- 
ship.  Goring  Dunbar  was  placed  in  charge  of  the 
ordnance.3 

By  the  King's  order,  all  the  duties  to  be  paid  by  the 
incoming  ships  in  the  future,  as  well  as  the  arrears 
remaining  uncollected,  were  to  be  used  in  meeting  the 

1  British  Colonial  Papers,  vol.  xxi.,  No.  64. 

2  Orders  March  29,  1666,  Va.  Maga.  of  Hist,  and  Biog.,  vol.  v., 
p.  27.  Capt.  Thomas  Cary  was  appointed  superintendent  of  the 
work;  Randolph  MS.,  vol.  iii.,  p.  304. 

3  Robinson  Transcripts,  pp.  120-1.  The  guns  from  the  burnt 
frigate  soon  proved  useless,  no  doubt,  from  the  damage  received  in 
the  fire;  see  Letter  of  Thomas  Ludwell  to  Arlington,  British  Colonial 
Papers,  vol.  xxiv.,  No.  65.  Of  the  fourteen  mounted  in  1667,  the 
majority  had  been  lying  in  "salt  sand"  for  thirty  years;  see  British 
Colonial  Papers  for  June,  1667,  No.  61.  "Goring"  Dunbar  was 
probably  the  same  person  as  "Gawin"  Dunbar,  who  served  as 
gunner  at  a  later  date. 


148  The  Military  System 

heavy  expense  of  building  the  fort.1  It  was  estimated 
that,  in  a  favorable  year,  the  duties  alone  would  swell 
to  as  large  a  sum  as  three  hundred  pounds  sterling ;  but, 
as  a  rule,  the  amount  was  very  much  smaller  than  this.2 
It  required,  however,  much  greater  resources  to  com- 
plete the  fortification,  owing  to  certain  obstacles  to  be 
overcome:  first,  in  consequence  of  the  instability  re- 
sulting from  a  subsoil  of  loose  sand,  only  timber  could 
be  used,  and  this  could  only  be  obtained  by  floating  it 
down  the  river  in  rafts,  which  were  liable  to  heavy  loss 
by  their  frequent  rupture  through  the  action  of  wind 
and  wave;  secondly,  even  after  the  timber  had  been 
securely  drawn  on  shore,  it  was  only  at  a  great  cost  that 
it  could  be  laid  in  such  a  manner  as  to  create  a  perfectly 
firm  foundation.  No  brick  or  stone  could  be  used,  as 
the  weight  of  such  material  demanded  the  support  of 
piles,  for  driving  which  the  Colony  afforded  no  facilities. 
In  June,  1667,  it  was  estimated  that  at  least  sixty 
thousand  pounds  of  tobacco  had  been  spent  in  building 
the  fort;  and  it  was  calculated  that  it  would  require 
double  that  sum  to  finish  it,  should  the  original  design 
be  carried  out  of  allowing  room  for  fourteen  guns. 

The  structure  was  never  finished.  In  explanation  of 
this  fact,  Secretary  Ludwell,  writing  to  Arlington, 
stated  that  the  physical  obstacles  to  be  overcome  were 
not  to  be  surmounted,  but  even  if  they  could  be,  the 
expense  of  building  would  be  insupportable.3  The 
Governor  and  Council,  who  had  been  so  submissive  to 
the  English  Government's  instructions  the  year  before, 


1  Randolph  MS.,  vol.  iii.,  p.  303. 

2  British  Colonial  Papers,  vol.  xxi.,  No.  14. 

3  See  letter  of  Thomas  Ludwell  to  Arlington  dated  February  12, 
1666-7,  British  Colonial  Papers,  vol.  xxi.,  No.  18.  See  also  for 
details  in  text,  British  Colonial  Papers  for  June,  1667,  No.  61. 


Fort  at  Point  Comfort  after  1630      149 

also  frankly  declared,  in  a  communication  to  that 
Government,  that,  even  if  a  strong  fortification  could  be 
erected  at  Point  Comfort,  the  other  rivers  of  the  Colony 
would  remain  unprotected.1  The  General  Assembly, 
already  disposed  to  be  very  yielding  to  Berkeley's 
wishes,  now  eagerly  sustained  him;  they  asserted  that, 
in  attempting  to  complete  the  fort,  great  difficulty  in 
procuring  materials  for  its  further  construction  was 
certain  to  arise;  that  should  it  be  finished,  it  would  be 
hard  to  secure  the  necessary  number  of  guards ;  and  that 
a  hostile  ship  might  easily,  with  a  favorable  wind  and 
tide,  run  bv  it  without  being  the  target  for  more  than 
a  couple  of  shots.  Having  once  passed,  such  a  ship 
might,  at  its  leisure,  prey  upon  the  merchantmen  ly- 
ing in  the  upper  waters  of  the  James  River  as  well  as 
spread  havoc  among  the  adjacent  plantations. 
*  British  Colonial  Papers  for  June,  1667,  No.  61. 


CHAPTER  XII 

Foreign  Invasion :  Later  Forts 

THE  General  Asembly  soon  decided  that  the  Colony 
was  sufficiently  prosperous  to  erect  the  numerous 
fortifications  so  long  needed  for  the  country's 
defence  against  foreign  invasion.  It  was  determined 
to  build  at  least  five  forts,  each  to  be  situated  at  a  place 
where,  even  if  it  would  not  bar  the  passage  of  the 
enemy's  vessels,  it  would  at  least  under  its  guns  afford 
a  shelter  for  English  ships.  One  fort  was  to  be  erected 
at  Tindall's  Point  on  the  York  River;  the  second  at 
Corotoman  on  the  Rappahannock;  the  third  at  Yeo- 
comico  on  the  Potomac ;  the  fourth  at  some  point  to  be 
selected  on  the  James;  and  the  fifth  at  an  eligible  spot 
on  the  Nansemond.  Each  of  these  forts  was  to  be  con- 
structed by  the  group  of  counties  to  which  it  belonged 
more  immediately;  and  the  undertaking  was  to  be 
carried  through  under  the  general  supervision  of  a 
commission  appointed  by  the  county  courts,1  and  hav- 

«  "Whereas  at  an  Assembly  held  at  James  City,  Sept.  23,  1667, 
it  was  enacted  that  the  county  courts  of  the  respective  and  several 
associations  in  Virginia  should  be  impowered  to  convene  and  make 
choice  of  such  commissioners  as  they  should  think  fit  to  entrust 
for  the  carrying  on  and  erecting  of  forts  for  the  safety  of  the  coun- 
try, and  the  Commissioners  of  York  this  day  meeting  and  taking 
in  their  serious  consideration  the  great  abilities  required  in  any 
trust  committed  to  said  commissioners,  have,  in  obedience  to 
said  Act,  made  choice  of  Col.  Nathaniel  Bacon  and  Col.  George 
Reade  as  commissioners  for  said  county,  who  are  thereby  authorized 

150 


Foreign  Invasion:  Later  Forts        151 

ing  the  right  to  choose  special  overseers  and  to  bestow 
on  them  the  power  to  impress  all  the  men  and  appropri- 
ate all  the  materials  they  would  require.  It  was 
provided  that  the  walls  of  each  of  these  forts  should  be 
raised  to  a  height  of  ten  feet;  and  that  they  should  have 
a  thickness  of  at  least  ten  in  those  parts  facing  the 
river  and  shipping.  Each  fort  too  was  to  be  spacious 
enough  to  accommodate  not  less  than  eight  pieces  of 
heavy  ordnance,  whilst,  within  its  confines,  sufficient 
area  was  also  to  be  reserved  for  a  court  of  guard  and  a 
magazine.  A  force  of  four  men,  in  addition  to  a  gunner, 
was  to  be  maintained  in  each  fort  during  times  of  peace ; 
and  the  expense  of  this  small  permanent  establishment 
was  to  be  met  by  the  imposition  of  castle  duties  and  by 
assessments  in  the  ordinary  county  levies.  On  the 
first  cause  for  alarm  arising,  the  guard  was  to  summon 
reinforcements  from  the  nearest  body  of  militia.1 

The  General  Assembly,  now  acting  on  its  own  re- 
sponsibility, determined  not  to  complete  what  remained 
of  the  fort  at  Point  Comfort.  This  decision  was  reached 
after  a  special  committee,  which  had  made  a  personal 
inspection  of  that  fortification,  had  reported  that  a  fort 
at  this  place  could  only  be  erected  and  maintained  by 
an  extraordinary  expenditure;  that  it  did  not  really 
command  the  channel  as  had  long  been  supposed,  since 
there  was  a  depth  of  fifteen  feet  to  the  distance  of  at 
least  one  mile  from  the  shore;  and  that  not  fifty  men 
capable  of  bearing  arms  resided  within  four  miles  of 
the  spot.  Moreover,  there  was  a  dearth  of  wholesome 
water,  and  the  adjacent  lands  were  infertile.  The 
committee,  probably  as  a  foregone  conclusion,  recom- 

and  impowered  to  perform  all  things  according  to  ye  tenour  of  ye 
said  act";  York  County  Records,  vol.  1664-72,  p.  198,  Va.  St.  Libr. 
1  Acts,  1667,  Randolph  MS.,  vol.  iii.,  p.  308. 


152  The  Military  System 

mended  that  the  fort  for  James  River  should  be  built, 
not  at  Point  Comfort,  but  at  Jamestown.1  Berkeley 
a  few  years  later  justified  this  decision  on  the  additional 
ground  that  the  vicinity  of  Point  Comfort  was  very 
unhealthy.2 

There  is  some  reason  to  question  Berkeley's  sincerity 
in  giving,  either  through  himself,  or  his  mouthpiece, 
the  General  Assembly,  such  plausible  reasons  for  leaving 
the  fort  at  Point  Comfort  to  go  to  ruin.  This  was  the 
time  when  the  Councillors  and  Burgesses  together  were 
beginning  to  pursue  a  policy  entirely  submissive  to  the 
Governor,  whose  personal  interests  were  much  more 
likely  to  be  protected  by  a  fort  at  the  capital  town  than 
by  one  near  the  mouth  of  the  river.  The  physical 
obstacles  to  be  overcome  in  erecting  a  fortification  at 
Point  Comfort  were  undoubtedly  greater  than  those  to 
be  overcome  at  Jamestown,  but  it  is  doubtful  whether 
the  one  spot  was  more  unhealthy,  as  to  either  the  air 
or  the  water,  than  the  other.  A  fort  at  Jamestown 
protected  that  place  alone ;  the  abandonment  of  the 
fortification  at  Point  Comfort  threw  every  plantation 
on  the  river,  from  Elizabeth  City  to  the  Falls,  open  to 
foreign  invasion.  From  the  Colony's  foundation,  it 
had  been  clearly  recognized  that  the  most  admirable 
site  for  a  fort  was  at  the  Point ;  and  it  was  not  until  the 
selfish  spirit  of  the  Reaction  began  to  prevail  in  Virginia 
that  the  drawbacks  of  a  fortification  on  that  spot  were 
magnified  beyond  their  true  character  as  an  excuse  for 
leaving  the  whole  river  undefended  except  at  the 
one  place  where  the  Governor  resided  and  owned 
property,  and  the  Long  Assembly  annually  convened.3 

>  Report,  Sept.  26,  1667,  Randolph  MS.,  vol.  iii.,  p.  312. 

2  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  ii.,  p.  51. 

3  The  object  of  most  of  the  new  forts  was  not  so  much  to  bar  the 


Foreign  Invasion:  Later  Forts        153 

By  the  end  of  1667,  the  five  forts  which  the  General 
Assembly  had  authorized  were  in  course  of  erection. 
The  one  at  Jamestown  was  now  nearly  finished.1  The 
manner  in  which  the  fort  at  Yeocomico  was  built,  no 
doubt,  was  common  to  nearly  all.  The  regulations 
relating  to  its  construction  were  both  numerous  and 
varied:  first,  a  house  forty  feet  in  length,  twenty  in 
width,  and  nine  in  pitch,  divided  into  two  rooms,  with 
two  inside  chimneys,  was  ordered  to  be  erected  for  the 
workmen's  accommodation;  secondly,  these  workmen, 
who  were  not  to  exceed  twenty-five  in  number  at  one 
time,  were  to  be  obtained  in  succession  from  each  of 
the  four  parishes  situated  in  Northumberland  and 
Westmoreland  counties;  thirdly,  forty  barrels  of  meal 
and  four  thousand  pounds  of  pork  were  to  be  impressed 
for  their  support;  fourthly,  they  were  to  be  subject  to 
the  supervision  of  at  least  three  superintendents; 
fifthly,  the  lines  of  the  fortification  were  to  be  traced 
by  Mr.  John  Webber,  a  professional  engineer,  who  also 
was  to  overlook  the  course  of  building ;  sixthly,  the  nails 
and  plank  were  to  be  furnished  by  Mr.  John  Lee; 
seventhly,  the  space  within  the  walls  was  to  embrace 
twenty-five  hundred  feet;  and  finally,  the  fortification, 
as  soon  as  finished,  was  to  be  supplied  by  purchase  with 
eighty  demi-culverin  round-shot  of  four-inch  diameter, 
twenty  cross-bar  shot  of   the  same  size,  twenty  saker 

passage  of  hostile  ships  as  to  afford  protection  within  the  range  of 
their  guns  to  all  vessels  taking  position  there  for  safety.  As 
Jamestown  was  so  high  up  the  river,  it  did  not  serve  this 
purpose  so  well  as  a  fort  at  a  lower  point  would  have  done.  It 
is  not  improbable  that  Berkeley  was  influenced  in  desiring  a 
fort  at  Jamestown,  instead  of  at  Point  Comfort,  by  the  fact 
that,  as  Commander,  he  would  have  been  entitled  to  the  castle 
duties. 

1  British  Colonial  Papers,  vol.  xvi.,  No.  143. 


154  The  Military  System 

shot  of  three-inch  diameter,  and  also  five  cross-bar  shot 
of  the  like  dimension.  There  was  to  be  bought,  too,  a 
large  quantity  of  round  cross-bar  and  saker  shot  of  two 
and  a  half-inch  diameter,  besides  a  considerable  number 
of  ordnance  ladles  and  firelock  muskets.  This  purchase 
was  to  be  made  by  Colonel  Henry  Muse,  to  whom 
eight  pounds  sterling  were  to  be  advanced  for  that 
purpose.1 

Such  were  the  regulations  adopted  by  the  committee 
of  the  associated  counties  situated  on  the  Potomac. 
Each  of  the  committees  here  and  elsewhere  was  im- 
powered  to  fill  any  vacancy  in  its  ranks  caused  by  death 
or  prolonged  absence.2  The  fund  which  they  were 
authorized  to  pay  out  for  the  construction  of  the  five 
forts  was  obtained  by  a  public  levy,  but  in  this  ex- 
penditure, they  were  subject  to  the  Assembly's  general 
directions;  that  body,  in  167 1,  for  instance,  ordered  the 
entire  number  to  retain  the  sums  collected  for  these 
forts'  reparation  until  they  had  accumulated  such  an 
amount  as  would  enable  them  to  rebuild  in  a  more 
permanent  form  all  the  existing  fortifications.  Each 
possessed  the  right  to  appoint  an  officer  to  collect  the 
duties  payable  at  the  fort  under  its  charge3 ;  and  these 
duties  had,  by  1676,  become  so  large  in  volume  that 
the  committees  were  instructed  to  refrain  from  levy- 
ing a  special  tax  for  the  fortifications'  maintenance.4 
After  1680,  however,  the  duties  were  diverted  by  the 
General  Assembly  to  other  purposes,  certainly  for  a 

1  These  details  were  agreed  upon  by  the  General  Committee  for 
the  associated  counties  of  Westmoreland,  Northumberland,  and 
Stafford;  see  Northumberland  County  Records,  vol.  1666-72, 
pp.  29,  32. 

2  Acts,  Sept.,  1 67 1,  Colonial  Entry  Book,  vol.  lxxxvi. 

3  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  ii.,  p.  291. 

4  Acts,  June,  1676,  Colonial  Entry  Book,  vol.  lxxxvi. 


Foreign  Invasion:  Later  Forts        155 

time,  and  the  committees  were  again  made  dependent 
on  public  taxation.1 

In  the  beginning,  the  General  Assembly  had  appro- 
priated a  sum  of  three  hundred  and  sixty-eight  pounds 
sterling  for  the  construction  of  the  forts.2  In  spite  of 
the  large  amount  paid  out  in  building,  and  the  annual 
sums  expended  in  repairing  them,  they  were  constantly 
falling  into  a  state  of  dilapidation.  Nor  was  this  due 
entirely  to  the  disintegrating  touch  of  a  very  variable 
climate,  which  ranged  from  the  excessive  dryness  of 
August  to  the  equally  excessive  humidity  of  April, — 
from  extreme  heat  to  extreme  cold.  Berkeley,  no 
doubt,  explained  the  fact,  at  least  partially,  when  he 
declared  that,  during  his  term  of  office,  there  had  never 
been  an  engineer  residing  in  the  Colony  having  sufficient 
knowledge  of  his  profession  to  understand  how  to  build 
a  fort  properly;  and  that  as  the  work  of  construction 
was  done  without  any  real  skill  or  art,  each  fortification 
could  only  be  kept  in  a  fairly  good  shape  by  repeated 
restorations.3  This  opinion  was  confirmed  by  the 
general  condition  of  the  five  forts  only  three  years  after 
they  had  been  completed,  owing  to  the  perishable 
character  of  the  materials  of  which  they  were  made. 
Several  of  these  forts  had  already  fallen  into  a  state  of 
"  utter  demolishment " ;  several  were  fast  going  to  ruin; 
while  only  one  could  be  repaired  at  small  charge.  An 
order  was  now  issued  by  the  General  Assembly  that  all 
the  forts  which  had  sunk  into  a  condition  of  complete 
dilapidation  should  be  reconstructed  entirely  of  brick ; 
and  that  those  only  needing  repairs  should,  to  that 

1  Minutes  of  Council,  July  8,  1680,  Colonial  Entry  Book,  vol. 
lxxxvi. 

2  Acts,  Sept.,  1668,  Colonial  Entry  Book,  vol.  lxxxvi. 

3  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  ii.,  p.  51. 


156  The  Military  System 

extent,  be  restored  with  brick  also,  as  promising  greater 
power  of  resistance  against  decay.  The  commissioners 
of  the  associated  counties  having  these  fortifications  in 
charge  were  instructed  to  carry  out  this  improvement ; 
and  should  the  amount  in  hand  from  the  collection  of 
fort  duties  be  inadequate,  they  were  impowered  to  lay 
a  general  levy  to  make  good  the  deficiency.1 

About  1673,  it  having  been  decided  to  renew  the  fort 
situated  at  Jamestown,  the  Governor  and  Council 
undertook  to  make  the  necessary  arrangements  for 
its  reconstruction.2  In  a  formal  agreement  with  the 
commissioners  of  the  group  of  associated  counties  which 
included  James  City,  William  Drummond  and  Theoph- 
ilus  Hone  bound  themselves  to  erect  at  once  a  forti- 
fication at  Jamestown  to  extend  a  length  of  two 
hundred  and  fifty  feet  and  to  be  composed  entirely  of 
brick;  but  so  slow  were  they  in  pushing  forward  the 
work  that,  at  the  end  of  several  months,  they  had  pro- 
ceeded only  to  the  point  of  collecting  on  the  spot  a 
small  quantity  of  timber  and  of  making  a  few  bricks; 
and  the  latter  were  reported  to  be  so  bad  that  the 
commissioners  were  ordered  by  the  Assembly  to  meet 
at  Jamestown  to  inspect  them.3  The  contractors 
themselves  were  threatened  with  prosecution  should 
they  fail  to  carry  out  the  agreement.4 

When  the  traveller  Clayton  arrived  in  the  Colony, 
the  fort  at  Jamestown  had  been  completed.  He  de- 
scribed it  as  being  a  large  brick  wall  built  in  the  shape 
of  a  half  moon.  It  was  situated  at  a  point  where  it 
commanded  the  channel  of  the  stream,  but  in  reality 

1  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  ii.,  p.  294. 

2  Robinson  Transcripts,  p.  262. 

3  General  Court  Records,  vol.  1670-76,  p.  149. 
*  Ibid.,  p.  141. 


Foreign  Invasion:  Later  Forts        157 

afforded  no  real  defence  to  the  town.  All  hostile  ships 
passing  up  the  river  were  entirely  safe  from  attack  until 
they  came  directly  opposite  the  fortification;  and  even 
then,  so  Clayton  asserted,  could  throw  the  garrison  into 
such  confusion  by  a  carefully  aimed  broadside  that  the 
fort  would  be  prevented  from  offering  any  effective 
obstruction  to  the  enemy's  further  progress.  Indeed, 
the  fortification,  in  Clayton's  opinion,  did  not  amount 
to  more  than  an  excellent  blind  from  behind  which 
wild  duck  and  geese  could  be  shot  at  to  advantage. 
He  anticipated  the  judgment  of  modern  engineers  in 
thinking  that  an  earthwork  would  have  proved  far  more 
capable  of  resisting  the  impact  of  a  cannon  ball.  It 
was  his  conclusion  that  Archer's  Hope,  situated  below 
Jamestown,  was  a  more  appropriate  site  for  a  fort,  as 
the  river's  channel  there  lay  nearer  to  the  shore.1 

The  merchants  trading  with  Virginia  had  never 
approved  of  the  abandonment  of  the  fort  at  Point 
Comfort,  and  their  opposition  to  that  step  was  greatly 
intensified  by  the  destruction  in  James  River,  in  1673, 
of  a  large  number  of  their  vessels  by  a  Dutch  man-of- 
war, — a  disaster  that  proved  how  totally  inadequate 
were  the  means  afforded  by  the  fort  at  Jamestown  for 
the  protection  of  such  vessels,  and  also  for  the  defence 
of  the  plantations  exposed  to  ravage.  Anticipating  a 
loud  outcry  from  the  merchants,  and  wishing  to  dimin- 
ish the  impression  which  this  might  make  on  the  Eng- 
lish Government,  the  Governor  and  Council  promptly 
addressed  a  letter  to  the  King  reiterating  their  former 
grounds  of  objection  to  the  restoration  of  the  fortifi- 
cation at  Point  Comfort:  they  again  declared  that  a 
hostile  ship,  taking  advantage  of  a  favorable  wind  and 

1  Clayton's  Virginia,  p.  23,  Force's  Hist.  Tracts,  vol.  iii. 


158  The  Military  System 

tide,  could,  without  serious  damage,  easily  run  by  any 
fort  which  the  Colony  could  erect  there,  however  strongly 
and  skilfully  built,  or  however  well  armed.  It  would 
require,  they  said,  a  battery  of  fifty  large  pieces  of 
ordnance  to  defend  it,  and  such  a  battery  would  cost  at 
least  fifteen  thousand  pounds  sterling,  a  sum  far  beyond 
the  pecuniary  resources  of  .all  the  counties  combined. 
Even  if  the  King  himself  should  assume  the  expense 
of  building  and  arming  the  fort,  the  people  of  Virginia 
would  be  unable  to  support  the  charge  of  a  garrison. 
The  funds  for  the  purpose  would  have  to  be  obtained  by 
imposing  a  special  tax  on  every  ship  arriving  in  the 
Colony.  At  the  present  time,  the  fort  duties  were  so 
small  in  amount  that  they  did  not  bring  in  a  sum  suf- 
ficient to  pay  the  gunners'  salaries,  cover  the  cost  of 
powder,  or  meet  the  expense  of  repairing  the  fortifica- 
tions. The  Governor  and  Council  earnestly  justified 
the  plan,  which  had  been  already  carried  out,  of  build- 
ing a  fort  at  some  eligible  spot  situated  on  the  banks  of 
each  of  the  five  principal  streams;  for  each  of  these 
forts,  they  said,  afforded  the  protection  of  its  guns  to 
the  vessels  trading  in  the  adjacent  waters.  If,  on  the 
other  hand,  all  the  available  income  of  the  Colony  were 
expended  in  the  construction  of  a  single  fort  at  Point 
Comfort,  then  only  James  River  would  enjoy  immunity 
from  attack.1 

The  merchants  might  have  acknowledged  the  force 
of  these  arguments  without  lessening  the  correctness 
of  their  assertion  that  it  was  wiser  to  maintain  a  fort 

•  Letter  of  Governor  Berkeley  and  Council,  July  16,  1673,  British 
Colonial  Papers,  vol.  xxx.,  No.  51,  I.  They  also  suggested  that, 
in  time  of  war,  a  convoy  should  always  accompany  a  fleet  of  mer- 
chantmen on  the  outward  voyage.  In  1667,  the  gunner  at  each 
fort  received  a  salary  of  fifty  pounds  sterling  per  annum ;  see  Acts, 
Sept.  20,  1667,  Colonial  Entry  Book,  vol.  lxxxvi. 


Foreign  Invasion :  Later  Forts        159 

at  Point  Comfort  than  at  Jamestown,  because,  on  the 
whole,  affording  a  more  convenient  shelter  to  vessels 
on  an  enemy's  arrival  in  the  river;  and  this  too  even  if 
it  were  admitted  that  the  fortification's  guns  could  not 
prevent  the  passage  of  the  channel  by  a  hostile  ship. 
They,  no  doubt,  agreed  with  the  Governor  and  Council 
in  thinking  that  a  fort  was  now  needed  on  the  banks  of 
each  of  the  other  great  streams;  but  because  such 
additional  forts  were  required,  was,  in  their  opinion, 
no  reason  why  the  only  fortification  erected  on  James 
River  should  be  placed  at  Jamestown.  It  was  the 
merchants  who  really  suffered  in  the  event  of  a  great 
disaster  like  the  one  happening  during  the  Dutch  war. 
Whether  the  ships  had  just  arrived  in  the  waters  of  the 
Colony,  or  were  just  departing  for  England,  they  were 
loaded  with  cargoes  belonging  in  the  bulk  to  the  mer- 
chants alone.  Such  cargoes  were  their  property, 
whether  composed  of  goods  about  to  be  imported,  or  of 
tobacco  about  to  be  exported.  The  protection  of  the 
ships  touched  their  prosperity  more  closely  even  than 
it  did  the  Virginians',  for  if  the  ships  were  coming  in 
when  destroyed,  the  planters  had  not  yet  purchased 
the  merchandise  they  contained;  and  if  the  ships  were 
on  the  point  of  going  out,  the  planters  had  sold  the 
tobacco  lying  in  their  holds,  and  as  a  mass  really  ex- 
perienced no  personal  loss.  It  was  the  merchants, 
therefore,  who  were  most  vitally  interested  in  the 
vessels'  protection  from  attack;  and  for  that  reason,  it 
was,  no  doubt,  the  merchants  also  who  could  be  relied 
upon  most  confidently  to  choose  the  proper  place  in 
each  river  for  the  construction  of  a  fort. 

The  citizens  of  Isle  of  Wight  and  Lower  Norfolk 
sought  the  General  Assembly's  permission  in  1673  to 
erect  two  forts,  one  of  which  was  to  be  situated  on 


160  The  Military  System 

Warrosquoick  Bay,  and  the  other  on  Elizabeth  River; 
and  consent  was  given  on  condition  that  the  general 
proposition  should  be  approved  by  the  majority  of 
the  people  residing  in  those  counties,  and  the  entire 
cost  of  building  the  two  fortifications  borne  by  the 
local  taxpayers.1  A  record  of  the  vote  taken,  the  fol- 
lowing year,  in  Lower  Norfolk  to  decide  the  question 
shows  that  its  inhabitants  declared  in  favor  of  erecting 
a  fort  there;  but  the  choice  of  a  site,  and  the  model  of 
the  fort  itself,  were  left  to  the  judges  of  the  county 
court.  This  body,  true  to  the  military  custom  of  those 
times,  preferred  a  half  moon  as  the  shape.  In  order  to 
procure  the  necessary  number  of  workmen,  each  justice 
was  impowered  to  compel  all  the  men  residing  in  the 
part  of  the  county  assigned  to  him,  to  contribute  respec- 
tively at  least  two  days*  labor  towards  the  construc- 
tion of  the  fortification;  relays  of  workmen  were  thus 
constantly  provided;  and  it  was  arranged  that  each 
individual  should  bring  with  him  the  tools  as  well  as 
the  victual  he  would  require  for  so  short  a  period.  This 
fortification  apparently  was  not  built  before  the  end 
of  many  months.  When  completed,  it  had  entailed  a 
cost  of  about  thirty-five  thousand  pounds  of  tobacco, 
an  amount  of  that  commodity,  valued  at  the  rate  of 
one  penny  and  a  half  a  pound,  equal  to  a  sum  of  two 
hundred  and  eighteen  pounds  sterling,  a  sum  which, 
in  that  age,  had  a  purchasing  power  of  five  thousand 
dollars,  no  inconsiderable  burden  for  one  county  to 
assume  to  ensure  for  ships  protection  against  foreign 
attack.2 

The  erection  of  a  fort  in  Lower  Norfolk,  and  also  in 

i  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  ii.,  p.  307. 

2  Lower  Norfolk  County  Records,  vol.  1666-75,  P-  io3  5  see  a^so 
levy,  Oct.  16,  1675. 


Foreign  Invasion  :  Later  Forts        161 

Isle  of  Wight,  was  rendered  necessary  by  the  abandon- 
ment of  the  fortification  at  Point  Comfort.  Had  the 
fort  there  been  first  thoroughly  restored,  and  then 
amply  supplied  with  heavy  ordnance,  it  would  have 
afforded  all  the  shelter  required  by  vessels  trading  in 
James  River  and  its  tributaries.  The  absence  of  such 
a  fort  imposed  on  all  the  counties  situated  above  the 
Point  an  expenditure  of  funds  which  would  have  gone 
far  towards  both  building  and  maintaining  a  fort  at 
the  latter  place  in  a  state  of  great  efficiency.  As  might 
have  been  confidently  expected,  the  question  of  re- 
establishing this  fort  was  soon  raised  again,  only  to 
find  the  General  Assembly  as  eager  as  before  to  resist 
the  proposition;  they  complained  that  many  tons  of 
tobacco  had  already  been  paid  out  in  the  effort  to  erect 
a  permanent  fortification  on  this  site,  but  so  far  without 
success;  and  they  protested  that  it  would  be  highly 
inadvisable  to  undertake  so  costly  a  project.1  They 
were  supported  in  this  opinion  by  the  three  Commission- 
ers sent  out  from  England  to  settle  the  disturbed  affairs 
of  Virginia.  When  the  people  of  Lower  Norfolk,  who 
had  been  compelled,  as  we  have  seen,  to  build  a  fort  at 
their  own  expense,  bitterly  criticised,  in  their  list  of 
grievances,  the  General  Assembly's  action  in  allowing 
the  fort  at  Point  Comfort  to  go  to  ruin,  these  Commis- 
sioners frankly  replied  that,  in  their  judgment,  it  was 
not  practicable  to  construct,  garrison,  and  maintain 
an  enduring  fortification  at  that  place.2  This  opinion 
of  the  three,  if  formed  independently  of  the  General 
Assembly's  influence,  was  entitled  to  great  weight, 
as  at  least  two  of  them  were  men  of  military  train- 
ing, and  all  were  in  a  position  to  reach  disinterested 

1  Acts  of  1676,  Colonial  Entry  Book,  vol.  lxxxvi. 

2  Winder  Papers,  vol.  ii.,  p.  158. 

VOL.  II-II 


1 62  The  Military  System 

conclusions  touching  all  matters  affecting  the  Colony's 
welfare. 

The  Committee  of  Trade  and  Plantations,  however, 
did  not  concur  in  this  opinion,  and  in  not  doing  so, 
anticipated  the  judgment  of  more  modern  times,  which 
has  always  pronounced  Point  Comfort  to  be  one  of  the 
most  important  sites  for  a  fortification  to  be  found  on 
the  North  and  South  Atlantic  coast.  They  earnestly 
recommended  that  all  the  quit-rents  to  be  collected  in 
Virginia  after  February  1678-9  should  be  devoted  to 
the  erection  of  a  fort  here  as  the  most  appropriate 
situation  for  such  a  fortification,  whether  it  was  desired 
to  repel  foreign  invasion,  or  to  suppress  domestic 
sedition.  In  declaring  themselves  so  strongly,  the 
committee,  no  doubt,  were  guided  by  information 
obtained  from  the  principal  merchants  engaged  in  the 
trade  with  the  Colony.1 

»  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1676-81,  p.  267. 


CHAPTER  XIII 
Foreign  Invasion:  Later  Forts  (Continued) 

SOON  after  his  arrival  in  Virginia  in  1681,  Cul- 
peper  visited  the  different  places  where  forts 
were  either  going  to  be  erected  or  were  already  in 
course  of  building.  Among  these  places  was  Tyndall's 
Point  on  the  York  River.  The  construction  of  the 
fortification  here  had  made  some  progress.  Apparently 
all  the  bricks  to  enter  into  its  composition  had  been 
manufactured,1  and  most  of  these  had  probably  been 
laid  in  their  final  position.  Nevertheless,  what  he  saw 
failed  to  satisfy  Culpeper,  who,  being  a  man  of  some 
military  education  and  experience,  was  fully  capable 
of  forming  a  correct  judgment;  he  declared  that  there 
was  neither  at  Tyndall's  Point  nor  at  any  other  spot 
in  the  Colony  a  fort  strong  enough  to  protect  ships, 
even  though  lying  under  its  guns,  from  a  vigorous 
attack  by  a  hostile  vessel,  or  to  resist  an  assault  from 
the  side  of  the  land  by  an  invading  foe.  Nor  was  it 
practicable  to  obtain  the  strength  required  without  an 
outlay  of  tobacco  far  greater  than  the  inhabitants  could 
afford  to  expend  for  such  a  purpose.  "I  do  not  be- 
lieve," he  concluded  in  his  report  to  the  English  Govern- 

•  John  Mathews,  in  1679,  failed  to  win  his  suit  against  John 
Page  for  work  done  about  a  house  in  which  were  stored  the  bricks 
made  on  Col.  Baldry's  land  for  "building  fort  James  at  Tyndall's 
Point";  York  County  Records,  vol.  1675-84,  orig.  p.  113. 

163 


164  The  Military  System 

ment,  "that  it  is  possible  to  secure  ships  anywhere 
against  a  greater  sea  force  except  on  going  so  high  up 
into  the  rivers  that  better  ships  will  not  think  to  follow 
them."1 

If  the  fortifications  on  the  coasts  then  in  existence 
were  incapable  of  making  a  very  successful  defence, 
it  was  not  to  be  attributed  to  the  absence  of  heavy 
ordnance.  A  few  years  before,  Berkeley  had  declared 
that  fifty  large  pieces  were  necessary  for  the  complete 
equipment  of  these  forts2;  but  at  that  time,  according 
to  his  estimate,  there  were  in  Virginia  only  about  thirty 
"great  and  serviceable"  cannon  altogether.  Thirty 
had  been  recently  sent  out  from  England;  but  unfor- 
tunately, the  larger  number  of  these  had  been  lost  or 
ruined  when  the  ship  transporting  them  took  fire  and 
was  destroyed.3  Cuthbert  Potter,  in  a  petition  to  the 
General  Assembly  stated  that  he  had,  in  March,  1673, 
expended  one  hundred  and  three  pounds  sterling  in 
paying  all  the  charges  for  the  freight  of  forty-four  "great 
guns,"  and  the  munitions  of  war  accompanying  them; 
and  an  order  was  accordingly  issued  that  he  should  be 
reimbursed  out  of  the  fund  accumulated  either  from 
the  tax  of  two  shillings  imposed  on  each  hogshead 
exported,  or  from  the  fort  duties  collected  by  the 
committees  of  the  associated  counties.4  In  1685,  there 
were  lying  in  Fort  James  on  the  York  and  at  Jamestown 
twenty  whole  culverins,  seven  twelve-pounders,  eleven 
demi-culverins,  some  of  iron  and  some  of  brass,  and  four 
sakers.     In  addition,  there  were  at  these  two  forts  a 

*  British  Colonial  Papers,  vol.  xlvii.,  No.  105. 

2  Letter  of  Berkeley  to  Secretary  Williamson,  Oct.  3,  1673, 
British  Colonial  Papers,  vol.  xxx.,  No.  70. 

3  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  ii.,  p.  51. 

*  Acts,  1680,  Colonial  Entry  Book,  vol.  lxxxvi.;  see  also  British 
Colonial  Papers,  vol.  lxiii.,  No.  11. 


Foreign  Invasion  :  Later  Forts        165 

large  quantity  of  balls  and  powder  adapted  for  use  to 
each  set  of  its  cannon,  both  great  and  small.  There 
were  also  lying  in  the  Rappahannock  fort  a  few  guns, 
but  they  had  been  so  neglected  that  they  were  at  this 
time  buried  in  the  sand.1 

One  of  the  most  serious  charges  brought  against 
Howard  by  Philip  Ludwell  in  1688  was  that,  having 
diverted  to  his  own  use  all  the  fort  duties,  the  fortifi- 
cations had,  during  his  administration,  fallen  into  a 
state  of  decay,  since  there  were  no  other  sums  which 
could  be  applied  to  them.  The  carriages  of  the  heavy 
ordnance  had  been  allowed  to  rot  slowly  away  and  the 
guns  to  tumble  to  the  ground  or  to  sink  into  the  sand.2 
Howard,  who  was  now  in  London,  afterwards  denied 
the  truth  of  these  accusations;  he  asserted,  in  his  own 
defence,  that,  when  he  first  arrived  in  Virginia,  he  had 
found  all  the  platforms  in  a  condition  of  great  dilapi- 
dation, the  carriages  too  much  ruined  by  long  exposure 
to  the  weather  to  hold  up  the  cannon,  and  all  the  guns 
unfixed.  As  soon  as  the  accumulation  of  public  funds 
had  justified  it,  he  had  sent  to  England,  with  a  view  to 
their  complete  restoration,  a  large  quantity  of  arms 
damaged  in  the  destruction  of  the  guard-house  at  James- 
town by  fire,  whilst  the  remainder  belonging  to  the 
Colony  had  been  fixed  by  the  local  gunsmiths,  and 
from  time  to  time,  as  needed,  distributed  among  the 
militia.  He  also  asserted  that  he  had  gone  to  extra- 
ordinary pains  in  1689  to  repair  the  platforms  at  James- 
town and  Rappahannock,  to  stock  those  forts  with  an 
ample  supply  of  powder  and  ball,  and  to  mount  there 

1  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1685-90,  p.  75.  This  fort  was  either  the 
one  situated  on  the  Carter  plantation  in  Lancaster  county,  or  the 
one  standing  on  the  Wormeley  plantation  in  Middlesex. 

2  Petition  of  Philip  Ludwell,  1688,  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1685-90, 
p.  271. 


1 66  The  Military  System 

an  adequate  number  of  large  cannon.  This  was  not 
done  also  at  Tyndall's  Point  and  Nansemond  only 
because  the  platforms  of  these  fortifications  had  been 
finished  but  a  short  time  before  he  took  his  departure 
from  Virginia.1 

Whether  these  claims  of  Howard  were  correct  or  not, 
the  condition  of  the  forts  after  his  withdrawal  were  far 
from  satisfactory.  In  1690,  the  nine  pieces  of  large 
ordnance  lying  at  Tyndall's  Point  and  Nansemond 
were  left  so  entirely  exposed  to  capture  by  a  foreign 
enemy  that  the  Council  felt  compelled  to  give  orders 
to  Colonels  John  Armistead  and  John  Lear,  the  com- 
manders-in-chief of  Gloucester  and  Nansemond  counties 
respectively,  to  choose  a  certain  number  of  men,  who 
were  to  hold  themselves  in  readiness  to  obey  upon  the 
instant  the  summons  of  the  gunner  of  each  fort,  and  to 
remain  on  guard  so  long  as  the  danger  lasted.  At  this 
time,  there  was  much  apprehension  lest  the  ordnance 
should  be  carried  off  by  French  ships-of-war.2  The 
person  in  charge  of  Tyndall's  Point  was  Gawin  Dunbar; 
and  in  order  to  assure  his  constant  presence,  he  had 
been  permitted  to  cultivate  the  land  attached  to  the 
fortification,  and  even  to  build  a  house  on  it.3  Several 
of  the  other  forts  situated  on  tide-water  were  apparently 
left  without  even  a  gunner  to  watch  over  the  consid- 
erable quantity  of  heavy  ordnance  which  they  still 
contained. 

There  were  in  Virginia,  in  1690,  numerous  cannon, 

1  Howard's  Defence,  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1685-90,  p.  300. 
The  Rappahannock  fort  which  Howard  referred  to  was  on  the 
lower  section  of  the  river. 

2  Minutes  of  Va.  Council,  June  15,  1690,  B.  T.  Va.,  1690,  No.  xi. 

3  About  1693,  he  petitioned  the  General  Assembly  to  reimburse 
him  for  the  money  he  had  spent  in  building  this  house;  see  Colonial 
Entry  Book,  1680-95,  p.  371. 


Foreign  Invasion:  Later  Forts         167 

although  many  of  them  were  unmounted.  At  James- 
town, twelve  culverins,  one  demi-culverin,  and  five 
sakers  remained;  at  Tyndall's  Point,  one  culverin,  one 
demi-culverin,  four  twelve-pounders,  and  three  sakers; 
and  at  Nansemond,  six  demi-culverins.  Several  of 
the  guns  at  these  forts  had,  during  the  course  of  the 
Insurrection  of  1676,  been  spiked,  and  thus  ren- 
dered worthless.  At  the  small  fortification  erected 
on  the  Wormeley  plantation  to  command  the  pas- 
sage of  the  Rappahannock  River  opposite  that  place, 
there  were  found  five  brass  guns  and  two  mortars, 
the  carriage  of  one  of  which  had  rotted  to  fragments. 
At  Corotoman,  on  that  stream's  northern  bank,  there 
were  twenty -four  cannon,  for  the  most  part  demi- 
culverins,  lying  in  the  sand  near  the  shore,  and 
exposed  to  the  daily  overflow  of  the  tide  from  the 
Bay.  Such  was  also  the  situation  of  the  six  large 
pieces  of  ordnance  which  had  been  carried  to  the 
fort  built  at  Yeocomico  on  the  Potomac.1 

Nicholson,  on  assuming  the  Lieut.-Governorship  of 
the  Colony,  instituted  a  careful  inquiry  into  the  dif- 
ferent forts'  condition,  and  the  state  of  their  ordnance. 
Among  the  members  of  the  Council  appointed  to  make 
a  personal  inspection  were  Colonel  John  Lear  for  the 
fortification  at  Nansemond,  Colonel  John  Page  for  the 
one  at  James  City,  Colonel  John  Armistead  for  the  one 
at  Tyndall's  Point,  Colonel  Ralph  Wormeley  for  those 
situated  on  the  Rappahannock,  and  Colonel  Isaac 
Allerton  for  the  one  standing  at  Yeocomico.2  This 
Committee  was  composed  of  the  first  men  of  that 
period  in  Virginia,  and  all  had  enjoyed  a  long  experience 

>  Nicholson's  Letter  to  Committee  of  Plantations,  B.  T.  Va.,  1690, 
No.   10. 

2  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1680-95,  p.  356. 


168  The  Military  System 

in  its  military  affairs.  Nicholson  showed  his  character- 
istic zeal  and  energy  by  his  unwillingness  to  rely 
wholly  on  the  reports  of  others,  however  competent  or 
trustworthy;  he  himself  visited  the  different  forts  in 
person;  and  seems  to  have  formed  as  unfavorable 
opinion  of  their  condition  as  Culpeper  had  done  some 
years  before.  He  declared  frankly  that  it  was  a  very 
improper  use  of  terms  to  describe  them  as  fortifications 
at  all;  and  writing  again  in  1 691,  he  repeated  the  state- 
ment that  there  was  no  fortification  in  Virginia  deserv- 
ing the  name  of  a  military  platform.  He  was  strongly 
of  the  opinion  that  the  only  means  of  affording  safety 
to  the  merchant  vessels  trading  with  the  Colony  during 
the  course  of  a  foreign  war  was  to  build  at  least  one  sub- 
stantial fort  on  the  banks  of  each  of  the  four  princi- 
pal rivers.  Whilst  these  forts  would  not  bar  the  pas- 
sage of  the  streams  by  a  hostile  ship,  so  great  was  the 
breadth  of  the  rivers,  nevertheless  their  guns,  if  kept 
in  good  order,  would  give  ample  protection  to  every 
vessel  lying  within  the  range  of  their  shot.  Unfor- 
tunately, Nicholson  was  forced  to  acknowledge  that  to 
erect  and  garrison  such  a  series  of  fortifications,  and 
maintain  them  in  perfect  shape,  would  require  a  far 
larger  sum  than  the  colonists  were  in  a  position  at 
this  time  to  raise.1 

The  acquisition  of  ammunition  for  the  heavy  ordnance 
mounted  on  the  few  platforms  still  intact  was  a  serious 
problem  to  solve  at  this  time.  It  shows  the  expedients 
which  the  Governor  and  Council  were  compelled  to 


1  B.  T.  Va.,  Entry  Book,  vol.  xxxvi.,  p.  29.  In  an  address  to 
the  King,  dated  May  21,  169.2,  the  Burgesses  declared  that  there 
was  at  this  time  not  a  single  fortification  in  the  Colony  strong 
enough  to  defend  either  the  plantations  or  the  ships  trading  thither; 
Minutes  of  Assembly,  May  21,  1691,  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1682-95. 


Foreign  Invasion:  Later  Forts        169 

have  recourse  to  that,  in  March,  1 690-1,  the  collectors 
of  customs  were  ordered  to  report  in  the  future  the  name 
of  every  person  in  the  Colony  to  whom  powder  should 
be  delivered  by  a  shipmaster,  so  that  when  the  occasion 
arose  for  its  use  in  repelling  an  invader,  it  might  be 
impressed  without  delay.1  A  few  months  later,  the 
English  Government,  for  the  defence  of  the  forts,  sent 
over  a  great  quantity  of  round  shot,  ladle,  and  sponge 
for  large  ordnance.2  On  the  guard-ship  Dunbarton 
being  broken  up  in  1691,  orders  were  issued  by  the 
authorities  that  all  her  guns  and  ammunition  should  be 
removed  to  the  fort  at  Tyndall's  Point,  which  was  now 
in  the  custody  of  John  Todd.3  Only  a  few  days  after- 
wards, they  declared  that  there  were  not  enough 
munitions  in  the  forts  at  this  time  to  require  the  con- 
stant oversight  of  the  gunners;  and  in  consequence  of 
the  intermittent  attention  which  these  officers  were 
expected  to  give  as  the  result  of  this  fact,  the  salary  of 
each  was  soon  greatly  reduced;  the  gunner  at  Tyndall's 
Point,  who  had  been  paid  fifteen  pounds  sterling  a  year 
formerly,  was  now  paid  only  ten;  whilst  the  gunner  at 
James  City  received  only  Seven  pounds  and  a  half 
instead  of  ten  as  before.  The  salary  of  the  gunner  at 
Rappahannock  and  Nansemond  respectively  was  cut 
down  from  ten  to  five  pounds  sterling.4 

The  gunner's  duty  was,  in  some  places,  confined  to  a 
watch  over  the  ordnance  alone ;  this  occurred  wherever 

•  Orders  of  Va.  Council,  March  7,  1690,  B.  T.  Va.,  1690,  No.  14. 

2  B.  T.  Va.,  Entry  Book,  vol.  xxxvi.,  p.  194. 

3  Orders  of  Council,  April  16,  May  15,  1691,  Colonial  Entry 
Book,  1680-95. 

*  Minutes  of  Council,  May  23,  1691,  B.  T.  Va.,  1691,  No.  27.  At 
this  time,  Gawin  Dunbar  was  the  gunner  at  Tyndall's  Point,  Ed- 
ward Rawlings  at  James  City,  and  Gerard  Fitzgerald  at  Rappa- 
hannock. In  1692,  the  gunner  at  Nansemond  was  Benjamin 
Gill;  see  Minutes  of  Council,  June  24,  1692,  B.  T.  Va.,  1692,  No.  27. 


1 70  The  Military  System 

it  was  thought  to  be  safer  to  distribute  the  stores 
among  a  certain  number  of  responsible  citizens  than  to 
leave  them  in  the  fort  itself.  In  1691,  Lieut.-Governor 
Nicholson  issued  a  general  order  that  these  munitions 
should  be  accounted  for  by  the  persons  to  whose  cus- 
tody they  had  been  consigned;  but  no  record,  it  is 
evident,  had  been  preserved  of  these  persons'  names, 
for  every  individual  in  the  Colony  having  any  knowledge 
of  the  exact  whereabouts  of  the  articles  was  enjoined  to 
give  information  of  that  fact  to  the  authorities  of  the 
county  in  which  he  resided;  and  an  urgent  command 
was  laid  upon  every  sheriff  and  every  justice  to  make  a 
diligent  search  for  them.1 

The  fortification  at  Jamestown  had,  by  1691,  fallen 
into  a  state  so  ruinous  that  it  could  no  longer  be  used 
even  as  a  shelter  for  the  different  stores  belonging  to  it ; 
and  in  consequence,  Colonel  William  Browne  was  paid 
fifty  shillings  for  providing  a  room  for  their  accommo- 
dation.2 The  heavy  ordnance  had,  by  this  time,  tum- 
bled from  the  rotting  carriages,  and  was  partially 
buried  in  the  sand.  In  1693,  Andros,  having  been 
appointed  Governor,  interested  himself  actively  in 
this  platform's  restoration;  thirteen  guns,  consisting  of 
whole  and  half  culverins,  were  raised  from  the  ground, 
placed  on  new  carriages,  and  thoroughly  cleaned,  while 

1  B.  T.  Va.,  1 69 1,  No.  70;  see  also  Orders  Dec.  21,  1691,  in  York 
County  Records,  vol.  1690-94,  p.  112,  Va.  St.  Libr.  The  following 
is  from  the  Henrico  County  Records:  "The  Right  Honble,  the 
Lieut.-  Gov.'s  order  of  ye  8th  of  December  last,  requiring  all  persons 
in  whose  custody  any  of  ye  stores  are  which  belong  to  ye  fort  at 
Tyndall's  Point  to  return  an  accont.  thereof  to  ye  Secretary's  office 
was  this  day  in  open  Court  published  1691  February";  see  vol. 
1 682-1 701,  p.  330,  Va.  St.  Libr. 

2  Orders  of  Council,  May  23,  1691,  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1680-95. 
In  1692,  a  powder  house  was  built  at  Jamestown  by  Andros;  see 
B.  T.  Va.,  Entry  Book,  vol.  xxxvi.,  p.  241. 


Foreign  Invasion:  Later  Forts        171 

four  others  of  equal  size  were  mounted  on  carriages 
obtained  from  a  ship.  The  whole  formed  a  battery 
which  is  said  to  have  commanded  the  passage  of  the 
river  at  this  point.  Andros  also  took  steps  to  sub- 
stitute new  carriages  for  the  old  ones  on  which  the  guns 
at  Tyndall's  Point  were  resting,  or  from  which  they  had 
dropped  to  the  ground  with  the  gradual  decay  of  their 
supports.1  A  few  years  afterwards,  he  gave  orders 
that  a  new  platform  should  be  built  at  this  fort.  This, 
when  completed  by  John  Hanby,  was  about  one 
hundred  and  sixty  feet  in  length  and  sixty  in  breadth; 
and  for  its  construction,  the  authorities  agreed  to  pay 
about  forty-five  pounds  sterling,  a  sum  having  the 
purchasing  power  of  about  one  thousand  dollars.2 

The  various  stores  collected  at  Tyndall's  Point  for 
the  fort's  use  were  at  this  time  kept,  not  in  the  fort 
itself,  but  in  a  house  belonging  to  John  Todd,  in  whose 
general  custody,  as  we  have  seen,  the  fortification  had 
been  placed.  This  was  not  considered  to  be  very  safe, 
as  the  site  of  the  house  was  near  the  river's  mouth, 
and  without  means  of  defence  in  case  an  invading  force 

»  Andros  to  Committee  of  Plantations,  July  22,  1693,  B.  T.  Va., 
Entry  Book,  vol.  xxxvi.,  p.  241.  Eleven  of  these  guns,  it  seems, 
had  been  placed  apparently  under  the  platform  by  the  order  of 
Lieut. -Gov.  Nicholson;  see  Minutes  of  Council,  Aug.  16,  1692. 
Colonial  Entry  Book,  1680-95. 

2  Hanby  is  found  petitioning  for  his  money  as  late  as  May  3, 
1699.  On  that  date,  Edmund  Jennings  and  Matthew  Page  were 
ordered  by  the  Council  to  make  an  inspection  of  the  platform;  see 
Minutes  of  Council,  May  3,  1699,  B.  T.  Va.,  vol.  liii.  Blair,  who 
disliked  Andros,  and  was  also  anxious  to  obtain  for  the  use  of  the 
College  the  money  designed  for  these  fortifications,  derided  the 
Governor's  efforts.  "I  have  never  heard  one  man  that  pretended 
anything  of  fortifications,"  he  declared,  "that  upon  sight  of  these 
works  did  not  ridicule  them  as  good  for  nothing  but  to  spend 
money. "  He  also  asserted  that  the  guns  at  Jamestown  were  so 
placed  that  they  were  no  defence  to  the  town ;  see  Blair's  Memorial, 
Perry's  Historical  Coll.,  Va.,  vol.  i.,  p.  14. 


172  The  Military  System 

approached  from  the  direction  of  the  Bay.  A  store- 
house, constructed  entirely  of  brick,  belonging  to 
Edmund  Jennings,  who  lived  within  convenient  distance 
of  the  fort,  was  finally  chosen  as  a  magazine ;  and  hither 
all  the  munitions  previously  sheltered  by  Todd's  roof 
were,  with  the  exception  of  a  small  quantity  reserved 
for  the  forts  at  the  Point  and  at  Nansemond,  trans- 
ported in  a  sloop.1 

How  heavy  was  the  charge  of  keeping  the  forts  even 
in  a  partial  state  of  preservation  was  shown  by  the  sums 
of  money  paid  out  to  the  various  persons  who  appar- 
ently had  been  the  chief  instruments  in  carrying  out 
Andros's  general  scheme  of  restoration.  Ralph  Worme- 
ley,  for  instance,  received,  in  1694,  about  forty-one 
pounds  sterling  for  the  carriages  he  had  provided  for 
the  heavy  guns  at  Jamestown,  and  also  for  a  consider- 
able quantity  of  timber,  probably  used  by  him  in  the 
construction  of  the  platform  there.  For  manufacturing 
sixteen  carriages  for  the  cannon  lying  in  the  fort  at 
Tyndall's  Point,  Thomas  Palmer  was  allowed  sixty 
pounds  sterling;  whilst  Colonel  Browne  was  paid  about 
three  pounds  sterling  for  continuing  to  furnish  store- 
room for  the  ammunition  kept  at  Jamestown,  although 
it  would  appear  that  the  magazine  built  there  by  Andros 
was  still  in  existence.  Probably,  however,  it  was  not 
used,  because,  as  Commissary  Blair  charged,  not  being 
protected  by  a  gun,  it  might  easily  have  been  seized  by 
any  enemy,  foreign  or  domestic.2 

In  March  1694-5,  the  Council  having  ordered  Colonels 
William  Byrd  and  Edward  Hill  to  make  a  personal 
inspection  of  the  old  fort  at  Jamestown,  they  reported 

1  Orders  of  Council,  July  6,  1692,  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1680-95. 

2  Blair's  Memorial,  Perry's  Hist.  Coll.,  Va.,  vol.  i.,  p.  14;  Minutes 
of  Council,  July  18,  1694,  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1680-95. 


Foreign  Invasion:  Later  Forts        173 

that  the  brickwork  had  gone  so  completely  to  ruin  that 
it  was  incapable  of  repair ;  and  that  the  whole  structure 
was  in  the  final  stage  of  decay.  The  Council  thereupon 
directed  that  it  should  be  no  longer  used  as  a  fortifica- 
tion; and  they  even  recommended  that  it  should  be  at 
once  demolished.1  The  fort  on  the  Wormeley  plan- 
tation, situated  on  the  banks  of  the  Rappahannock, 
had  already  been  abandoned.  The  guns  had  been  pro- 
nounced to  be  useless,  not  only  because  they  had  been 
seriously  damaged,  but  also  because  they  were  not  of  a 
calibre  to  command  the  passage  of  the  stream;  and,  in 
consequence,  an  order  had  been  given  that  they  should 
be  removed  to  Jamestown.2  The  fort  at  Nansemond 
was  still  maintained,  for,  in  1695,  James  Peters  was 
paid  forty-seven  pounds  sterling  for  building  carriages 
for  the  heavy  guns  belonging  to  that  fortification,  and 
also  for  throwing  up  an  earthwork  there.  In  the  same 
year  also,  Peter  Beverley  received  five  pounds  sterling 
for  mounting  eight  large  cannon  in  the  fort  situated  at 
Tyndall's  Point;  and  this  number  was  increased  in  1696, 
in  which  year,  Captain  Thomas  Ballard  obtained  a 
warrant  for  a  considerable  sum  as  remuneration  for 
transporting  thither  eight  pieces  of  heavy  ordnance. 
He  also  supplied  a  large  quantity  of  tar  and  timber.3 

Although  the  brickwork  of  the  old  fort  at  James- 
town had  been  levelled  to  the  earth,  an  effort  was  never- 
theless made  to  maintain  a  fortification  at  that  place. 
The  guns  seem  to  have  been  removed  from  their  former 
position,  and  after  the  carriages  supporting  them  had 
been  mended  or  entirely  renewed,  the  heavy  ordnance 

*  Orders  of  Council,  March  6,  1694,  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1680-95. 
2  Minutes  of  Council,  July  20,  1694,  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1680-95. 

*  Minutes  of  Council,  June  4,  1695,  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1680- 
95;  June  15,  1696,  B.  T.  Va.,  vol.  liii. 


174  The  Military  System 

was  mounted,  probably  on  an  earthwork  like  the  one 
recently  thrown  up  at  Nansemond.  *  The  only  use 
to  which  the  cannon  were  put  appears  to  have  been  in 
firing  salutes;  but  so  great  was  the  waste  of  powder 
resulting  that  the  gunner,  Edward  Ross,  recommended 
that  several  small  iron  pieces  belonging  to  James 
Shirlock,  who  resided  at  Jamestown,  should  be  pur- 
chased for  this  purpose;  and  this  was  finally  done,  as 
assuring  an  important  saving  in  the  expenditure  of 
ammunition.2 

From  the  preceding  account  of  the  state  of  the 
different  forts  situated  along  the  borders  of  tide- water, 
it  will  be  seen  that,  as  the  century  drew  towards  a  close, 
there  was  an  increasing  popular  disposition  to  allow 
these  fortifications  to  fall  into  complete  decay;  and 
whilst  from  time  to  time,  the  authorities  undertook  to 
make  the  necessary  repairs,  nevertheless  this  was  not 
done  in  a  manner  to  ensure  any  real  permanency.  The 
true  explanation  of  the  forts'  defective  condition  is  to 
be  found  in  the  people's  conviction,  which  had  been 
growing  for  many  years,  that  these  fortifications  were 
incapable,  even  when  in  the  highest  state  of  efficiency, 
of  serving  the  purpose  for  which  they  were  designed. 
The  results  of  nearly  one  hundred  years'  experience  were 
summed  up  with  remarkable  force  by  the  Governor  and 
Council,  in  1690,  in  passing  upon  the  reports  of  two 
committees,  composed  of  such  conspicuous  men  as 
William  Byrd,  Edward  Hill,  Matthew  Page,  and  Ed- 
mund Jennings,  who  had  just  pronounced  the  two 
principal  sea  forts  in  Virginia,  those  of  Jamestown  and 
Tyndall's  Point,  to  be  "wholly  useless  and  unservice- 

»  See  Minutes  of  Council,  June  4,  1695,  Colonial  Entry  Book, 
1680-95. 

2  Minutes  of  Council,  April  28,  1696,  B.  T.  Va.,  vol.  liii. 


Foreign  Invasion:  Later  Forts        175 

able."  These  distinguished  officials  declared,  first,  that 
in  the  light  of  their  own  observation,  and  that  of  their 
predecessors,  they  believed  it  to  be  impossible  for  any 
fortification,  however  strongly  built,  fully  manned,  or 
completely  armed,  to  protect  any  part  of  the  Colony 
from  invasion  by  sea,  because,  the  shores  everywhere 
lying  unusually  low,  it  would  always  be  easy  for  the 
enemy  to  disembark  at  some  undefended  plantation, 
and  marching  forward,  seize  the  fort  by  an  assault  from 
the  land  side,  and  having  once  got  possession  of  it,  use 
it  as  the  base  for  a  further  attack  upon  the  surrounding 
country;  secondly,  that  the  people  of  Virginia  were 
entirely  too  poor  to  bear  the  heavy  and  constant  drain 
on  their  resources  that  would  be  rendered  necessary  by 
a  policy  of  building  and  maintaining  a  series  of  fortifi- 
cations along  the  coast ;  thirdly,  that  seditious  persons 
residing  within  the  Colony  would  not  be  overawed 
and  kept  in  subjection  by  the  mere  presence  of  such 
fortifications,  but,  on  the  contrary,  would  perhaps  be 
induced  to  rise  by  the  fact  that  each  fort  would  con- 
stitute an  arsenal  from  which  they  would  be  able  by 
force  to  procure  a  large  supply  of  arms  otherwise  be- 
yond their  power  to  obtain;  fourthly,  that  the  forts 
would  not  always  serve  even  the  purpose  of  magazines, 
as  it  was  already  considered  dangerous  to  leave  powder 
in  them,  except  under  a  powerful  guard,  for  fear  lest  it 
might  be  carried  off  by  the  pirates  frequenting  those 
waters,  or  blown  up  in  the  course  of  one  of  those 
terrifying  storms  of  thunder  and  lightning  which  swept 
over  the  country  in  spring  and  summer;  fifthly,  that 
the  breadth  of  all  the  rivers  below  the  flow  of  the  tide 
was  too  great  for  any  forts  the  Colony  was  able  to  build 
to  command  the  channels,  and  therefore,  they  would 
afford  no  real  protection  to  merchantmen  trading  in 


176  The  Military  System 

these  rivers  in  case  the  foreign  enemy's  approach  was 
sudden  and  unexpected. 

Under  the  influence  of  these  different  reasons,  the 
Governor  and  Council  earnestly  recommended  that  all 
the  fortifications  in  Virginia  should  be  allowed  to  sink 
gradually  into  total  ruin.1  Such  a  recommendation 
always  had  the  people's  hearty  approval;  for  the  real 
sufferers  in  case  of  an  attack  from  the  sea,  as  already 
pointed  out,  would  not  be  so  much  the  owners  of  the 
plantations  as  the  owners  of  the  ships  trading  with  the 
Colony;  in  other  words,  it  was  not  so  much  the  Virginians 
themselves  as  the  English  merchants  who  were  likely 
to  be  damaged.  The  country  lying  along  tide-water  was 
as  yet  too  much  devoid  of  villages  and  towns  to  offer 
any  strong  inducement  to  an  enemy  to  land  and  commit 
serious  ravages.  A  house,  barn,  or  cabin, — buildings 
easily  and  quickly  replaced, — might  here  and  there  be 
destroyed  in  pure  wantonness,  but  cattle  in  any  great 
number  could  not  be  driven  off  to  a  man-of-war;  and 
there  was  no  treasure  or  valuable  booty  in  large  quanti- 
ties to  be  carried  away.  The  attention  of  every  hostile 
vessel  arriving  in  the  waters  of  the  Colony  was  always 
turned  to  the  ships  belonging  to  the  English  merchants, 
which  were  moving  from  anchorage  to  anchorage  in  the 
different  rivers.  The  blow  fell  always  upon  them; 
rarely  upon  the  plantations  also.  Such  being  the  case, 
the  indisposition  of  the  people  of  Virginia  during  the 
Seventeenth  century  to  impose  heavy  taxes  on  them- 
selves in  order  to  raise  numerous  fortifications  along  the 
line  of  coasts  becomes  intelligible  enough.  It  was 
better,  they  argued,  that  the  merchants  should,  at  long 
intervals,  incur  a  great  loss  than  that  the  people  should 

1  Minutes  of  Council,  May  9,  1699,  B.  T.  Va.,  vol.  liii. 


Foreign  Invasion:  Later  Forts        177 

have  to  bear  so  grievous  a  burden  all  the  time.  The 
number  of  Virginians  who  forwarded  their  tobacco  to 
England  -and  thus  ran  the  same  risk  was  too  small  to 
modify  this  view  to  any  great  extent. 

VOL.  II    13 


CHAPTER  XIV 
Foreign  Invasion:   Guard-Ships 

WHEN  the  Governor  recommended,  as  in  1699, 
that  all  the  forts  should  be  allowed  to  go  to 
ruin,  it  may  be  taken  for  granted  that  he  had 
either  come  to  disregard  the  hostile  influence  of  the 
English  merchants,  or  he  had  decided  that  there  were 
some  means  besides  a  coast  fortification  which  would 
afford  protection  to  the  trading  ships,  and  that,  in 
this  view,  the  owners  of  these  ships  fully  concurred. 
During  many  years,  the  opinion  had  been  growing  in 
the  Colony  that  the  most  effective  way  of  defending  the 
merchantmen,  and  preventing  an  attack  on  the  planta- 
tions along  tide-water,  was  for  the  English  Government 
to  establish  a  guard-ship  in  the  Chesapeake  not  far  from 
the  Capes.  This  opinion  was  entertained  all  the  more 
favorably  as  the  expense  of  such  a  ship  would  be  com- 
paratively small,  and  would  fall  chiefly  either  on  the 
merchants  or  the  English  Government  itself.  As  early 
as  1666,  Berkeley  and  his  Council  had  united  in  declar- 
ing that,  in  consequence  of  the  width  and  extent  of  the 
rivers,  a  single  guard-ship  would  prove  more  successful 
in  the  defence  of  the  coast  and  the  trading  vessels  than 
all  the  fortifications  which  the  limited  means  of  the 
people  would  allow  them  to  erect.1  Berkeley  advo- 
cated the  same  plan  more  than  once.     "  All  the  forts 

1  Robinson  Transcripts,  p.  118. 

178 


Foreign  Invasion  :  Guard-Ships       179 

we  can  build,  "  he  frankly  wrote  to  Arlington,  "  though 
never  so  strong,  will  not  absolutely  answer  what  they 
are  designed  for.  The  entrance  into  the  Province  is  so 
large  that  any  enemy's  ship  may  ride  out  of  all  possible 
danger  of  the  greatest  cannon  in  the  world. "  A 
frigate-of-war  alone,  he  asserted,  would  offer  a  barrier 
incapable  of  being  overcome  unless  confronted  by  such 
a  force  as  an  enemy  was  unlikely  to  send  out  to  those 
remote  waters.1 

A  letter  of  Thomas  Ludwell  written  in  the  following 
year,  shows  that  the  Virginians  in  an  emergency  could 
devise  guard-ships  of  their  own.  "  We  are  in  a  flat  open 
country, "  he  wrote,  "  full  of  great  rivers,  impossible 
to  be  totally  secured  from  the  incursions  of  the  enemy 
...  to  prevent  such  mischief,  we  have  ordered  a  fleet 
of  boats  and  shallops  in  every  river,  well  manned  and 
armed,  to  be  ready  on  all  occasions  to  attend  the 
motions  of  an  enemy,  and  to  fight  them  if  they  seek  to 
land.  "2  England  was  now  at  war  with  Holland.  In 
anticipation  of  that  war,  or  soon  after  it  began,  the 
English  Government  dispatched  to  the  Colony  the 
frigate  Elizabeth,  which  seems  to  have  been  the  first 
of  the  guard-ships  stationed  in  the  waters  of  Virginia. 
The  second,  commanded  by  Captain  Roger  Jones,  who 
had  come  out  with  Culpeper  as  a  soldier,  was  a  sloop 
of  sixty  tons  burden  equipped  with  ten  guns.  Hired 
by  the  Governor  on  the  Council's  recommendation,  its 
maintenance  imposed  a  heavy  charge  on  the  public; 
for  instance,  apart  from  the  cost  of  its  stores  and  victual, 
its  captain  alone  was  paid  four  pounds  sterling  every 
month;  the  mate  and  carpenter  together  the  same  sum; 
whilst  each  of  the  twelve  common  seamen  received 

1  British  Colonial  Papers,  vol.  xx.,  No.  117. 
2 Ibid.,  vol.  xxi.,  No.   18. 


180  The  Military  System 

one  pound  and  four  shillings, — a  total  outlay  falling 
little  short  in  purchasing  power  of  five  hundred  and 
fifty  dollars  in  modern  currency.1  Jones  was  in  time 
suspected,  not  only  of  defrauding  the  Colony  by  draw- 
ing the  wages  of  twelve  sailors  when  he  had  only  eight 
in  his  service,  but  also,  which  was  a  far  more  serious 
crime,  of  acting  in  collusion  with  pirates  and  ship- 
masters seeking  to  evade  the  Navigation  Laws.  By 
the  large  sums  thus  acquired,  he  is  said  to  have  laid  the 
foundation  of  a  very  valuable  estate.  His  device,  it 
appears,  was  to  strike  his  colors  to  the  vessels  of 
pirates,  his  motive  in  doing  which  they  soon  came  to 
understand ;  and  it  was  then  their  habit  to  dismiss  him 
with  a  great  quantity  of  French  wines  and  other  costly 
goods.2  In  1683,  the  vessel  was  ordered  to  be  dis- 
charged, and  the  stores  it  contained  to  be  returned  to 
Middle  Plantation.3 

The  same  year,  Howard  urged  the  English  Govern- 
ment to  dispatch  to  Virginia  a  frigate  for  use  in  repress- 
ing illegal  traders,  capturing  pirates,  and  discouraging 
all  persons  who  might  be  disposed  to  rebel.4  Appar- 
ently, a  favorable  response  was  given,  for,  in  1684,  the 
royal  ship  Quaker,  under  Captain  Thomas  Allen's 
command,  is  found  cruising  in  the  waters  of  the  Colony. 
During  that  year,  Nicholas  Smith's  residence,  situated 
in  Isle  of  Wight  county,  was  robbed  by  Roger  McKeel 
and  other  privateers.  The  Quaker  was  sent  out  to 
scour  Chesapeake  Bay  in  search  of  them;  and  as  a 
support,  should  she  need  it  in  the  expected  encounter, 


1  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1681-5,  p.  162;  1680-95,  p.  157. 

2  Letter  of  Council  to  Committee  of  Plantations,  B.  T.  Va.,  Entry- 
Book,  vol.  xxxvi.,  p.  215. 

3  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1680-95,  p.  184. 
*  Ibid.,  1681-85,  p.  184. 


Foreign  Invasion:  Guard-Ships       181 

two  sloops,  fully  manned  and  completely  armed,  were 
ordered  to  accompany  her. 1 

The  Deptford  was  also  stationed  in  Virginia  at  this 
time.  Howard  spoke  with  great  disdain  of  the  com- 
manders of  these  two  vessels.  "  My  footmen,"  he  was 
reported  as  saying,  "  would  make  as  good  captains  as 
they."  When  charged  with  this  contemptuous  speech, 
he  replied  vaguely  that  he  had  treated  the  two  officers 
"  with  all  suitable  respect " ;  and  that  they  had  always 
had  the  run  "of  his  house  and  cellar."2  From  the 
testimony  of  others,  it  would  appear  that  the  captain 
of  the  Deptford,  John  Crofts  by  name,  was  quite  as  un- 
worthy as  the  Governor  represented  him  to  be.  Some 
of  the  scenes  which  took  place  on  board  of  that  vessel 
between  him  and  his  wife  were  marked  by  the  most 
disgraceful  violence.  One  witness  swore  to  the  fact 
that  they  were  constantly  quarrelling  and  fighting  in 
their  cabin;  that,  on  one  occasion,  in  her  ungovernable 
rage,  she  hurled  about  the  room  all  the  looking  and 
drinking  glasses;  that,  on  another,  she  scattered  over 
the  floor  the  burning  embers  which  she  had  dragged 
from  the  hearth,  so  that  the  sailors  were  in  deadly  fear 
lest  a  spark  should  reach  the  powder  magazine  and  blow 
up  the  vessel.  When  one  of  the  officers  remonstrated 
with  her  on  such  dangerous  conduct,  she  denounced 
him  as  a  rascal,  and  shouting  out  that  she  would  break 
his  head,  threw  a  can  of  water  in  his  face.  Her  husband 
joined  in  the  altercation,  and  striking  the  officer  with 
his  cane,  and  continuing  to  beat  him  until  he  was 
"  black  and  blue  all  over,"  ended  by  knocking  him  down. 
At  another  time,  Captain  Crofts,  being  quite  drunk, 
his  usual  condition,  staggered  out  of  the  cabin,  sword  in 

»  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1680-95,  p.  210. 

2  British  Colonial  Papers,  vol.  lxi.,  No.  6o,  I.;  vol.  lxii.,  No.  20,  II 


1 82  The  Military  System 

hand,  and  in  a  raging  humor,  and  swearing  loudly  at 
the  watch,  threatened  to  kill  the  whole  number,  and 
was  so  menacing  that  some  of  them  took  to  the  water 
to  avoid  personal  injury.  "  Belching  out  a  thousand 
oaths,"  he  exclaimed  that  he  had  "come  into  the 
country  to  get  an  estate,  and  that  he  would  get  one 
before  he  left."1 

That  Crofts  was  determined  to  get  this  estate  by 
dishonest  means,  if  necessary,  was  shown  by  his  con- 
duct on  several  occasions.  In  1687,  he  boarded  the 
Daniel  and  Elizabeth  just  as  it  was  about  to  pass  out 
though  the  Capes  on  its  voyage  to  England.  Having 
ordered  the  captain  to  stop  the  ship,  he  refused  to 
permit  her  to  continue  on  her  way  until  he  had  received 
bills  of  exchange  for  large  amounts,  and  had  also  taken 
out  of  her  hold  considerable  quantities  of  valuable 
commodities  and  merchandize,  without  even  requesting 
leave.2  On  another  occasion,  he  detained  Captain  Sam- 
ways  under  the  same  circumstances,  and  only  suf- 
fered him  to  proceed  on  his  offering  as  a  bribe  eleven 
yards  of  silk,  two  silver  dishes,  a  silver  tobacco  box, 
and  a  greatcoat.3  Informed  of  these  dishonest  acts, 
Howard  summoned  Crofts  to  Jamestown  to  answer  for 
them.  The  warrant  was  delivered  to  him  at  Wico- 
comico  in  Maryland  by  the  deputy  sheriff  of  West- 
moreland, who  was  accompanied  by  several  assistants. 
On  its  being  handed  to  him,  he  looked  fiercely  at  the 
person  presenting  it  and  exclaimed :  "Sirrah,"  and  no 
other  form  of  acknowledgment  could  be  got  from  him  ex- 
cept threats  to  break  the  heads  of  the  officers  and  to  put 

»  British  Colonial  Papers,  vol.  lx.,   No.  52,  I.,  II.,    III.,  VIII., 
XII  ,  XIII. 

2  British  Colonial  Papers,  vol.  lx.,  No.  52,  VIII.,  XII. 
s  Ibid.,  vol.  lxii..  No.  20.  X. 


Foreign  Invasion  :  Guard-Ships       183 

them  in  the  bilboes.  When  one  of  them  demanded  a 
receipt  for  the  summons,  Crofts,  shaking  his  cane  at  him 
in  a  violent  manner,  ordered  him  and  his  companions  to 
go  on  board  of  the  ketch,  which  was  riding  near.  The 
upshot  of  the  interview  was  the  return  of  the  letter  with 
an  insulting  and  obscene  message  for  the  sheriff  of  the 
county.1  The  end  of  Crofts  was  in  keeping  with  the 
violence  of  his  life,  and  followed  perhaps  from  "the 
carelessness  encouraged  by  his  intemperate  habits, — 
his  ship  was  overturned  by  one  of  those  sudden  squalls 
so  common  in  the  Chesapeake  Bay,  and  he  and  eight 
of  his  sailors  were  drowned.2 

At  this  time,  the  Dunbar  ton  was  also  stationed  in  the 
waters  of  Virginia,  but  in  the  course  of  1691,  being 
unserviceable  and  lying  on  the  beach,  she  was  broken 
up  and  her  guns  and  stores  removed,  as  already  stated, 
to  the  fort  at  Tyndall's  Point.  Nicholson  now  re- 
quested the  English  Government  to  send  out  to  the 
Colony  a  frigate  and  afire-ship.3  Howard  condemned 
the  suggestion  of  a  fire-ship  on  the  ground  that  such  a 
vessel  could  not  be  made  useful  in  the  broad  rivers  of 
Virginia;  and  in  its  stead,  he  recommended  that  the 
frigate  should  be  supported  by  a  well  manned  and 
thoroughly  armed  sloop.4  The  Wolf  arrived  in  169 1, 
under  Captain  Purvis's  command,  but  she  soon  ran 
her  keel  on  the  bottom  at  a  shallow  point  in  the  Bay 
between  the  mouths  of  the  York  and  Rappahannock, 
and  was  only  saved  by  the  exertions  of  a  large  number 
of  persons,  who  had  been  impressed  to  pull  her  back 

1  British  Colonial  Papers,  vol.  lx.,  No.  52,  VIII. 

2  B.  T.  Va.,  Entry  Book,  vol.  xxxvi.,  p.  9. 

3  Ibid.,  vol.  xxxvi.,  p.  29;  see  also  Appeal  of  Council  to  Commis- 
sioners of  Plantations,  B.  T.  Va.,  1690,  No.  xi.;  1691,  No.  16. 

*  B.  T.  Va.,  1691,  No.  19. 


184  The  Military  System 

into  deep  water.  Purvis  had  made  liberal  promises  of 
reward  to  those  assisting  him  in  this  emergency,  but 
forgot  to  keep  them  when  his  vessel  was  once  more 
riding  in  safety.  This  dishonesty  raised  such  a  great 
commotion  in  the  Colony  that  the  fears  of  the  Lieut  .- 
Governor  and  Council  were  aroused  lest  it  should  lead 
to  "dangerous  consequences  to  the  peace"  of  the 
community;  and  they  earnestly  appealed  to  the 
Committee  of  Plantations  to  provide  the  money  to 
pay  whatever  should  be  shown  to  be  due.1 

In  the  year  in  which  the  Wolf  ran  aground  in  the 
Chesapeake  Bay  and  came  so  near  to  going  to  pieces, 
the  Henry  Prize,  another  guard-ship,  arrived  in  Virginia. 
Captain  Finch,  who  was  in  charge  of  this  vessel,  was 
instructed  to  devote  his  attention  entirely  to  defending 
the  Colony  by  sea,  but,  in  doing  so,  to  hold  himself,  at 
all  times,  in  readiness  to  carry  out  the  commands 
of  the  Virginian  authorities.  As  soon  as  he  re- 
ported his  presence,  the  Governor  directed  him  to 
station  his  ship  at  a  point  opposite  the  mouth  of 
the  York  River,  and  to  make  an  examination  of  all 
merchantmen  passing  by,  either  on  the  inward  or  the 
outward  voyage.  On  a  hostile  vessel  appearing, 
should  he  conclude  that  it  was  too  formidable  to 
be  attacked,  then  he  was  to  retire  under  the  pro- 
tection of  the  guns  of  the  fort  at  Tyndall's  Point,  and 
to  remain  there  until  the  enemy  had  vanished.2     This 

1  B.  T.  Va.,  Entry  Book,  vol.  xxxvi.,  p.  103.  "Mr.  William 
Churchill,  having  at  the  last  court  made  proclamation  that  all 
persons  which  did  service  on  board  their  Majesties'  ship  Wolfe 
should  repair  to  him,  and  be  paid  for  ye  same  and  all  persons  not 
satisfied  repair  to  this  court,  etc.";  see  Middlesex  County  Records, 
Orders  Jan'y.  1,  1693. 

2  Minutes  of  Council,  1691,  B.  T.  Va.,  No.  59;  see  also  Minutes, 
Oct.  22,  1 69 1,  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1680-95. 


Foreign  Invasion:  Guard-Ships       185 

frigate  seems  to  have  been  very  poorly  manned,  and 
even  lacking  in  the  proper  number  of  masts.1  As 
many  deserters  from  the  crews  of  trading  vessels  were, 
at  this  time,  wandering  at  large  in  the  Colony,  the 
Council  ordered  the  justices  of  the  peace  for  the  dif- 
ferent counties  to  arrest  these  vagabonds,  and  to  send 
them  under  armed  escort  to  Tyndall's  Point  for  en- 
listment on  board  of  the  guard-ship,  now  lying  there  in 
need  of  such  a  complement.2  Captain  Finch,  like  all 
his  predecessors,  was  strongly  disposed  to  contemn 
the  orders  of  the  Virginian  authorities,  although  he  had 
been  expressly  made  subservient  to  them.  It  was  not 
long  before  the  Council  lodged  a  complaint  against 
him  of  gross  insubordination  and  great  dilatoriness  of 
movement;  and  they  also  condemned  his  ship  as  a 
"heavy  sailer  and  ill  roader," — a  statement  which 
seems  to  lessen  somewhat  the  force  of  the  accusation 
brought  against  the  captain  personally,  as  he  was,  no 
doubt,  in  some  measure,  handicapped  by  a  very  inferior 
vessel.  So  inferior,  indeed,  did  it  prove  to  be,  that  the 
Council  prayed  the  Committee  of  Plantations  to  sub- 
stitute for  it  one  sounder  and  more  useful.3 

Andros  was  instructed  by  the  Lords  of  the  Treasury, 
in  1694,  to  hire  several  vessels,  not  to  exceed  forty  tons 
in  burden,  which,  sailing  up  and  down  the  coast  of 
Virginia,  were  to  be  constantly  on  the  lookout  for  hostile 
ships  and  illegal  traders.  They  were  to  be  placed  under 
the  command  of  officers  specially  chosen  for  their 
knowledge  of  that  coast,  and  for  their  experience  in 
managing  such  boats;  and  in  order  to  stimulate  their 
zeal  in  the  performance  of  their  duties,  one  third  of  all 

»  B.  T.  Va.,  Entry  Book,  vol.  xxxvi.,  p.  101. 

2  B.  T.  Va.,  1692,  No.  123. 

3  Minutes  of  Council,  July  6,  1692,  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1680-95. 


186  The  Military  System 

the  sums  to  be  obtained  from  forfeitures  for  violations 
of  the  Navigation  Acts  was  to  be  bestowed  upon  them. 
In  accord  with  these  instructions,  Andros  soon  hired  a 
sloop  of  the  prescribed  burden  and  manned  it  with  ten 
seamen;  but  as  the  forfeitures  for  violations  of  the 
Navigation  Laws  had  already  been  granted  to  the 
College  of  William  and  Mary,  permission  was  sought 
through  Ralph  Wormeley,  the  Secretary  of  the  Colony, 
to  use,  for  the  benefit  of  the  sloop's  officers  and  crew,  a 
certain  proportion  of  the  tobacco  accruing  from  the 
quitrents.1 

In  1697,  the  Swift,  under  Captain  Nathaniel  Bost- 
wick's  command,  seems  to  have  been  the  only  guard-ship 
stationed  in  the  waters  of  Virginia^  But  she  soon  came 
to  grief,  for  in  passing  along  the  coast  at  the  hour  of 
high  tide,  she  ran  aground,  and  on  the  tide  receding, 
was  left  on  the  shore,  from  which  it  was  found  impossible 
to  remove  her  when  the  flood  returned ;  and  she  became 
finally  a  complete  wreck.2  The  Swift  was  succeeded  by 
the  Essex  Prize,  a  ship  of  a  single  deck  armed  with 
sixteen  guns,  and  manned  by  sixty  seamen,  a  very 
large  complement.  She  was  under  the  command  of 
Captain  John  Aldred,  who  complained  that  she  was 
fitted  to  hold  her  own  against  an  enemy  only  so  long 
as  the  men  were  able  to  retain  possession  of  her  one 
deck;  driven  from  that,  they  would  be  forced  to  surren- 
der, as  there  was  no  other  section  of  the  ship  from  which 
they  could  continue  to  keep  up  their  fire.3  Aldred 
gave  as  little  satisfaction  to  the  Governor  and  Council 

»  Minutes  of  Council,  November,  1694,  B.  T.  Va.,  Entry  Book, 
vol.  xxxvi.,  pp.  290,  297. 

2  Ibid.,  March  7,  1697-8,  B.  T.  Va.,  vol.  liii.  An  inventory  of  her 
properties  stored  at  Colonel  William  Wilson's  house  at  Hampton 
will  be  found  in  B.  T.  Va.,  vol.  viii.,  Doct.  37. 

3  See  letter  of  Aldred,  July  30,  1699,  B.  T.  Va.,  vol.  Hi. 


Foreign  Invasion  :  Guard-Ships       187 

as  his  predecessors;  they  charged  that  his  ownership 
of  stores  in  different  parts  of  the  Colony  exposed  him 
to  the  temptation  of  bribes  and  preoccupied  his  atten- 
tion; that  he  kept  his  vessel  too  long  in  James  River, 
and  failed  to  obey  an  order  to  leave  for  a  cruise  in  other 
waters  demanding  as  close  inspection;  and,  finally, 
that,  lodging  his  seamen,  during  the  greater  part  of 
their  time,  on  shore,  he  permitted  them  to  wander  in 
every  direction  at  their  will,  to  the  serious  objection 
of  the  planters  on  whose  property  they  were  making 
constant  depredations.1  Aldred,  in  his  own  defence, 
urged  that  his  ship  was  so  leaky  in  the  bow  that  he  was 
unwilling  to  venture  out  in  very  bad  weather  for  fear  lest 
the  water,  rushing  in,  should  destroy  all  the  stores;  and 
that,  in  reality,  the  vessel's  entire  structure  was  in  need 
of  repairs  not  improbably  beyond  the  skill  of  the  car- 
penters of  Virginia  to  make .  All  the  gun  carriages  too  re- 
quired renewing,  and  the  supplies  replenishing.  Aldred 
had  already  complained  that  his  seamen,  doubtless  influ- 
enced by  these  conditions,  were  constantly  abandoning 
the  ship  and  flying  to  remote  parts  of  the  Colony,  where 
they  entered  the  service  of  merchantmen  ready  to  set 
sail  for  England.2  In  order  to  assure  him  sufficient 
men  to  take  the  place  of  these  deserters,  Nicholson 
had  authorized  him  to  impress  one  sailor  from  every 
trading  ship  arriving  in  Virginia  with  a  complement  of 
seamen  exceeding  fifteen  in  number.3     At  one  time,  the 

1  Letter  of  Nicholson  to  Captain  Aldred,  Oct.  25,  1699,  B.  T. 
Va.,  vol.  Hi. 

2  Letter,  April  17,  1699,  B.  T.  Va.,  vol.  Hi. 

3  Letter  of  Nicholson,  Jan'y  29,  1698-9,  B.  T.  Va.,  vol.  Hi. 
Aldred,  it  appears,  had  previously,  on  his  own  responsibility,  been 
forcing  Virginians  into  his  service.  Mary  Rickets  complained 
that  he  had  impressed  one  Sykes  "an  inhabitant  of  this  country 
who  was  shortly  to  be  married  to  her";  see  Letter  of  Nicholson, 
Sept.  15,  1699,  B.  T.  Va.,  vol.  Hi. 


i88  The  Military  System 

Governor  had  become  so  impatient  with  his  slowness 
that  he  had  sent  him  word  that,  unless  he  should  be 
ready  for  a  cruise  by  the  end  of  two  weeks,  he  must 
return  to  Jamestown,  anchor  his  vessel,  and  discharge 
his  crew,  as  it  was  wrong  to  put  the  King  to  so  much 
expense  when  so  little  of  importance  was  accomplished. l 

The  Shoreham,  under  the  command  of  Captain  Wil- 
liam Passenger,  arrived  from  England  in  1699,  and  soon 
proved  itself  to  be  the  most  capable  guard-ship  dis- 
patched as  yet  to  Virginia.  Its  chief  officer  brought 
with  him  instructions,  first,  to  obey  all  orders  which  the 
Governor  should  give  him  with  a  view  to  ensuring  the 
Colony's  safety;  secondly,  in  case  of  a  vacancy  among 
his  officers,  to  promote  any  person  under  him  whom  he 
deemed  the  best  fitted  for  the  position;  and,  finally, 
should  the  number  of  his  men  run  short,  not  to  impress 
others  on  his  own  responsibility,  but  to  apply  to  the 
Governor  for  recruits  to  make  good  the  deficiency.2 

Nicholson  ordered  Captain  Passenger  to  begin  at  once 
to  cruise  in  the  Chesapeake,  and  off  the  entrance  to  the 

»  Letter  of  Nicholson,  Jan'y  4,  1699,  B.  T.  Va.,  vol.  Hi.  Aldred, 
on  one  occasion,  declined  to  attack  the  pirates  on  the  ground  that 
his  vessel  was  not  sufficiently  manned;  see  Letter  of  Nicholson, 
April  19,  1700,  B.  T.  Va.,  vol.  Hi. 

2  Instructions  to  Capt.  Passenger,  Nov.  16,  1699,  B.  T.  Va., 
vol.  viii.,  Doct.  18.  Less  than  one  year  later,  Passenger,  with  the 
consent  of  Nicholson,  was  seeking  to  impress  sailors  from  mer- 
chantmen. "I  cannot  omit  giving  your  excellency,"  he  wrote  in 
April,  1700,  "an  account  of  those  many  threats  of  ye  law  and  other 
senseless  language  I  met  with  by  executing  your  warrant,  and 
taking  one  man  out  of  fifteen  from  the  Canterbury,  by  one  Tregenny, 
ye  master  of  ye  said  ship,  and  he  valued  not  ye  order,  there  was  no 
law  for  pressing,  but  if  his  ship  came  to  damage,  he  would  lay  it  to 
my  charge,  which  I  know  not  but  this  young  uppish  spark,  which 
is  fitter  for  a  school  than  be  a  master  of  a  ship,  may  either  through 
wilfulness  or  ignorance,  run  the  ship  ashore,  so  I  shall  be  liable 
to  be  laid  in  jail  fast,  etc.,  "  B.  T.  Va.,  vol.  viii. 


Foreign  Invasion:  Guard-Ships       189 

Capes,  and  never  to  remain  in  harbor  longer  than  could 
be  avoided,  as  this  would  offer  illegal  traders  an  oppor- 
tunity to  escape  to  sea,  and  pirates  to  attack  merchant- 
men without  interference.  He  was  directed  too  to 
procure  from  England  all  the  provisions  he  would  need 
for  the  coming  year,  as  there  was  a  prospect  that  victual 
would  run  short  in  Virginia;  and  also  to  purchase  there 
all  his  stores,  as  they  could  only  be  obtained  in  the 
Colony  at  an  extravagant  price.1  The  Council  recom- 
mended that  a  small  sloop  should  be  bought  to  serve 
as  a  tender  to  the  Shoreham,  so  that  the  latter  vessel, 
being  thereby  more  conveniently  supplied  with  wood 
and  fresh  water,  might  not  be  compelled  to  discon- 
tinue cruising  even  for  a  short  time.  Such  a  sloop,  it 
was  urged,  having  a  light  draught,  would  be  able  to  pass 
into  shallow  creeks  and  inlets  which  the  larger  ship  could 
not  venture  to  enter,  and  thus  lurking  pirates  could  be 
the  more  easily  and  quickly  detected.  It  might  also 
be  fitted  out  as  a  fire  vessel,  should  any  occasion  promise 
to  make  it  effective  in  that  character.  A  sloop  was 
bought,  and  no  doubt  proved  to  be  of  great  use.2 

>  B.  T.  Va.,  vol.  viii.,  Doct.  18. 
2  Ibid.,  Doct.  18. 


CHAPTER  XV 
Foreign  Invasion :   European  Foes 

WHILST  the  guard-ships  were  designed  in  part 
to  enforce  the  Navigation  Laws  by  summary 
seizures  of  all  ships  seeking  to  evade  them,  the 
forts  situated  along  the  inner  coast  line  were  erected 
for  the  single  purpose  of  affording  protection  against 
foreign  invasion.  Who  were  the  foreign  enemies 
causing  the  colonists  the  greatest  alarm?  From  the 
foundation  of  the  earliest  settlement,  the  inhabitants 
of  Virginia  were,  from  time  to  time,  apprehensive  of  an 
attack  by  some  European  foe.  The  site  of  Jamestown 
was  chosen  principally  because  it  offered  many  ad- 
vantages in  resisting  an  assault,  should  one  be  made; 
and  the  determination  to  maintain  a  fort  at  Point 
Comfort,  which,  as  we  have  seen,  continued  so  long,  had 
its  origin  in  the  impression  that  a  fortification  on  this 
spot  would,  by  commanding  the  channel,  bar  the  further 
progress  up  the  river  of  any  hostile  vessel  seeking  to 
pass.  It  was  for  many  years  confidently  expected  that 
such  a  fortification  here  would  ensure  the  absolute 
security  of  the  plantations  lying  above.  Before  the  fort 
was  finished,  it  was  the  Spanish  nation  that  the  people 
dreaded  the  most,  for  it  was  well  known  to  all  that  that 
nation,  claiming  the  whole  of  Virginia,  had,  in  menac- 
ing language,  protested  against  its  colonization  by  the 
English.     Apprehension   lurked   in   the   first   settlers' 

190 


Foreign  Invasion :  European  Foes     191 

minds  lest  the  horrible  massacre  by  which  a  Spanish 
army  had  destroyed  the  Huguenots  seated  at  Fort 
Caroline  in  Florida  should  be  repeated  at  any  hour  on 
the  banks  of  the  Powhatan.  On  several  occasions, 
the  alarm  was  raised  at  Jamestown  that  Spanish  ships 
were  actually  coming  up  the  river;  and  indeed,  during 
those  early  years,  the  first  sight  of  a  sail  glimmering 
remotely  on  the  bosom  of  the  stream  as  it  expanded 
towards  the  south  caused  exclamations  of  doubt, 
suspicion,  and  fear  among  the  spectators.  Every 
man  was  ready  to  spring  to  arms  should  it  be  announced 
from  the  lookout  that  a  Spanish  vessel  was  really 
approaching.  No  such  vessel  ever  appeared,  and  no 
Spanish  soldier  entered  the  Colony  except  as  a  spy; 
but  as  late  as  1626,  the  authorities  were  instructed 
by  the  English  Government  to  expect  daily  the  "  com- 
ing of  a  foreign  foe,"  and  to  exercise  extraordinary 
precautions  in  allowing  persons  to  go  on  board  of  a 
newly  arrived  ship,  as,  under  the  disguise  of  common 
traders,  enemies  might  find  their  way  into  the  heart  of 
Virginia,  and  then  casting  off  all  pretension  of  harmless 
designs,  overthrow  the  plantation.1 

The  wisdom  of  this  instruction  deeply  impressed  the 
minds  of  Yeardley  and  his  Council,  to  whom  it  was  given. 
At  a  meeting  held  in  January  of  the  same  year,  they 
considered,  with  great  care,  all  the  dangers  which  might 
arise  on  an  enemy's  landing,  should  no  plan  of  action 
looking  to  repelling  him  have  been  adopted  beforehand. 
An  order  was  despatched  to  Captain  William  Tucker, 
stationed  at  Elizabeth  City,  that,  so  soon  as  such  a 
number  of  suspicious  ships  should  come  in  sight  as  to 
arouse  his  apprehension,  he  was  to  send  a  messenger  to 
Jamestown  to  announce  their  arrival;  afterwards,  he 

1  Instructions  to  Yeardley,  1626,  Robinson  Transcripts,  p.  46. 


192  The  Military  System 

was  to  proceed  in  all  haste  to  gather  up  the  cattle, 
women,  and  children  and  to  remove  them  to  Mathews 
Manor;  and,  finally,  he  was  to  be  ready  to  carry  deep 
into  the  woods  whatever  victual  might  be  of  service  to 
the  enemy  were  it  left  behind  to  fall  into  their  hands. 
Should  any  person  be  detected  parleying  with,  or  mak- 
ing signs  to  them,  he  was  to  be  tried  by  a  court-martial, 
and  if  found  guilty,  led  out  to  immediate  execution. 
Should  the  foe  be  one  with  whom  the  local  militia 
could  successfully  cope,  then  the  commander  was  to  be 
slow  in  setting  fire  to  the  planters'  houses  in  order  to 
prevent  that  foe  from  occupying  them.  He  was  to  be 
instructed  to  "lose  them  by  degrees";  that  is  to  say, 
to  burn  them  down  only  when  their  seizure  appeared 
to  be  inevitable.1 

Such  was  the  spirit  which  would  have  animated  the 
Virginians  of  these  early  times  had  the  Spaniards  stolen 
into  James  River  and  attempted  to  ravage  the  land  with 
sword  and  torch;  such  were  the  provisions  for  defence 
had  an  attack  been  made  by  them,  however  suddenly 
and  unexpectedly.  When  the  fleet  sent  over  by  Par- 
liament, in  165 1,  to  overawe  the  population,  arrived, 
it  met  such  a  formidable  show  of  resolution  and  force 
that  far  more  favorable  terms  of  surrender  were  granted 
than  the  Commissioners  themselves  perhaps  had  antici- 
pated offering.  Although  all  were  ready  at  a  moment's 
notice  to  resist  invasion,  the  exemption  from  it  for  so 
many  years  had  the  natural  effect  of  lulling  the  in- 
habitants into  a  feeling  of  security;  by  the  middle  of 
the  century,  apprehension  of  a  Spanish  attack  had 
entirely  passed  away;  and  no  other  attack  was  now  to 
be  expected  except  from  an  enemy  against  whom  the 
English  had  proclaimed  open  war.    As  the  French  and 

1  Robinson  Transcripts,  p.  59. 


Foreign  Invasion:  European  Foes     193 

Dutch,  unlike  the  Spaniards,  did  not  regard  Virginia  as 
a  part  of  their  territory,  the  danger  of  a  furtive  though 
deadly  assault  by  them  without  a  previous  announce- 
ment to  England  that  hostilities  had  begun,  was  not 
within  the  range  of  probability.  Information  of  a 
declaration  of  war  by  either  of  these  two  nations  was 
certain  to  be  sent  to  the  Colony  by  the  English  Govern- 
ment; and  should  the  Colony  be  found  unprotected 
when  invasion  came,  it  would  not  be  from  any  lack  of 
warning.  Nevertheless,  there  was  observed  among  the 
Virginians  a  disposition  to  minimize  the  prospect  of 
an  attack  even  when  the  news  had  reached  them  that 
the  Mother  Country  was  involved  in  war.  Berkeley 
noticed  this  feeling  on  their  part  in  1666  when  hostilities 
with  the  Dutch  had  been  under  way  for  some  time ;  writ- 
ing that  year  to  Secretary  Arlington,  he  declared  that 
they  "  lived  after  the  simplicity  of  the  past  age  " ;  and 
that  unless  immediate  danger  gave  "  their  fears  tongue 
and  language,  they  forgot  all  sounds  that  did  not  con- 
cern the  business  and  necessities  of  their  farms."1 

During  the  previous  year,  when  DeRuyter  was  ex- 
pected to  descend  on  the  coasts  of  Virginia,  Berkeley 
had  called  out  a  body  of  fifteen  hundred  dragoons ;  and 
on  the  same  occasion,  had  ordered  several  regiments  of 
footmen,  numbering  twenty-five  hundred  men,  to  hold 
themselves  in  readiness  to  march  on  two  days'  warning. 
"No  enemy,"  he  justly  boasted,  "can  make  any  use 
of  their  heavy  guns  half  a  mile  within  our  thick  woods."2 
These   woods   almost   everywhere   began   at   a   short 

1  "As  we  are  further  out  of  danger,"  added  Berkeley,  "so  we 
approach  nearer  to  Heaven  with  our  prayers  that  our  sacred 
Majesty's  enemies  may  either  drink  the  sea  or  bite  the  dust"; 
Letter,  May  i,  1666,  British  Colonial  Papers,  vol.  xx.,  No.  63. 

2  Berkeley  to  Arlington,  Aug.  1,  1665,  British  Colonial  Papers, 
vol.  xix.,  No.  86. 

vol.  11 — 13 


i94  The  Military  System 

distance  from  the  banks  of  the  navigable  streams;  and 
although  a  foe  might  land,  he  could  not  pursue  effec- 
tively in  a  country  so  covered  with  forests.  All  the 
merchantmen  which  happened  to  be  riding  in  the 
waters  of  the  Colony  at  this  critical  moment  were 
ordered  by  the  Governor  to  drop  anchor  opposite  James- 
town, Tyndall's  Point,  Pungoteaque  on  the  Eastern 
Shore,  or  the  forts  situated  on  the  Rappahannock,  such 
as  should  chance  to  be  the  nearest.  It  seems  to  have 
been  the  plan  to  erect  at  once  at  each  of  these  places, 
in  addition  to  whatever  fortifications  already  existed 
there,  should  any  exist  at  all,  a  temporary  platform  to 
support  a  battery;  and  also  to  throw  up  entrenchments 
for  musketeers.  It  was  hoped  that  this  combination, 
together  with  the  guns  of  the  ships  themselves,  would 
afford  ample  protection  for  the  merchantmen,  although, 
had  DeRuyter's  fleet  really  arrived  in  full  force,  it  is 
not  probable  that  it  would  have  found  any  serious 
difficulty  in  destroying  these  vessels.  Berkeley  was 
requested  by  the  Council  to  procure  from  England  at 
the  first  opportunity  all  the  ordnance  which  the  new 
platforms  would  require;  and  he  was  also  impowered 
to  ask  the  King  for  authority  to  take  from  every 
trading  vessel  reaching  the  Colony  at  least  two  cannon. 
These  heavy  guns,  should  the  King  consent,  were  either 
to  be  restored  as  soon  as  the  ships  were  ready  to  re- 
turn oversea,  or  paid  for  in  full  from  the  income  accru- 
ing from  the  tax  of  two  shillings  on  each  exported 
hogshead.1 

The  following  year  (1666),  DeRuyter  not  having 
appeared  in  the  interval,  the  fleet  of  merchantmen 
assembled  just  before  setting  sail  in  a  body  to  England ; 
and  Berkeley  having  marshalled  the  whole  number  into 

1  Va.  Maga.  of  Hist,  and  Biog.,  vol.  v.,  p.  23. 


Foreign  Invasion  :  European  Foes    195 

a  single  squadron,  appointed  three  of  the  captains  re- 
spectively admiral,  vice-admiral,  and  rear-admiral.  He 
ruefully  admitted  afterwards,  however,  that  three 
"well  prepared  men  of  war"  could  easily  have  de- 
stroyed or  put  to  flight  this  entire  fleet.1 

Within  a  few  weeks,  a  Dutch  man-of-war  was  sighted 
as  she  passed  in  between  the  Capes.  General  Richard 
Bennett  was  at  this  time  attending  a  sitting  of  the  Coun- 
cil at  Jamestown.  Being  the  commander-in-chief  of 
the  district  south  of  the  James  River,  he  was  instructed 
to  summon  at  once  all  the  officers  and  justices  residing 
within  the  bounds  of  that  district  to  appear  at  such 
places  as  he  should  name,  and  there  take  prompt  steps 
to  secure  boats  and  sloops  for  the  crews  to  be  formed  to 
watch  the  enemy's  movements  and,  if  possible,  to  pre- 
vent his  committing  depredations  on  land.  Bennett 
was  fully  impowered  to  impress  all  the  smiths  and 
carpenters  he  should  need  to  repair  his  vessels,  and  to 
seize  cordage,  sails,  and  whatever  else  he  should  require. 
The  orders  given  to  the  senior  officers  of  the  districts 
embracing  York  county  and  the  Eastern  Shore  respec- 
tively, were  the  duplicates  of  those  given  to  Bennett.2 

These  precautions  do  not  seem  to  have  availed  very 
much,  for  by  the  tenth  of  July,  the  Dutch  man-of-war 
had  succeeded  in  capturing  two  merchantmen.  So 
soon  as  he  received  news  of  this  fact,  Berkeley  ordered 
Major  Powell,  who  was  in  command  of  twenty  men  at 
Point  Comfort,  to  bury  all  the  ordnance  lying  at  that 
place  at  least  four  feet  deep,  and  afterwards  to  remain 
on  the  spot  to  prevent  the  enemy  from  landing  and 
finding  the  guns.     Colonel  Yeo,  who  was  also  in  com- 

»  Berkeley  to  Arlington,  May  i,  1666,  British  Colonial  Papers, 
vol.  xx.,  No.  63. 

2  Robinson  Transcripts,  p.  117. 


196  The  Military  System 

mand  of  twenty  men  stationed  at  Elizabeth  City,  was 
directed  to  relieve  Powell  in  case  he  should  need  aid; 
and  in  his  turn,  Powell  was  to  relieve  Yeo,  should  he 
also  require  assistance.1 

No  further  captures  seem  to  have  been  made  by  this 
vessel,  but  in  the  course  of  the  following  year  (1667), 
four  Dutch  men-of-war,  armed  altogether  with  one 
hundred  and  fourteen  guns,  appeared  off  the  Capes. 
At  this  time,  twenty  merchantmen  were  lying  in  the 
waters  of  the  James  and  York.  Had  they  been  able 
to  combine  their  strength,  it  is  not  improbable  that 
they  could  have  defeated  even  this  formidable  array 
of  hostile  ships,  but  separated  as  they  were,  the  chance 
of  doing  so  was  very  small.  The  Dutch  first  destroyed 
the  guard-ship  Elizabeth.  This  was  accomplished  by 
means  of  a  fire-ship  consisting  of  a  captured  trading 
vessel.  The  task  was  not  a  difficult  one,  as  the  Eliza- 
beth, being  without  masts  and  in  a  very  leaky  condition, 
was  unable  to  leave  her  anchorage,  and  after  she  was 
struck  was  soon  consumed ;  but  not  until  ten  brass  and 
twenty-seven  iron  guns  had  been  saved  by  her  crew. 
Having  destroyed  this  vessel,  the  Dutch  man-of-war 
went  in  search  of  the  merchantmen  lying  in  James 
River,  some  of  which  they  were  able  to  capture  as  soon 
as  they  came  up  with  them ;  but  some  they  were  forced 
to  pursue  for  a  great  distance  before  they  were  success- 
ful in  overhauling  them.  While  the  enemy  was  thus 
engaged,  Berkeley  sent  Thomas  Ludwell  in  haste  to 
York  River  with  orders  to  the  chief  officers  of  the 
merchantmen  riding  in  that  stream  to  assemble  their 
ships  at  once,  and  hold  them  in  readiness,  not  simply 
to  resist,  but  to  make  an  attack.  Ludwell,  however, 
soon  saw  that  the  captains  were  in  a  state  of  panic,  and 

1  Robinson  Transcripts,  p.  116. 


Foreign  Invasion:  European  Foes     197 

that,  unless  encouraged  by  the  Governor's  influence  and 
example,  would  never  consent  to  go  to  the  assistance  of 
the  distressed  merchantmen  in  James  River.  Berkeley- 
was  at  once  informed  of  this,  and  although,  at  the 
moment,  busy  in  strengthening  the  fortifications  at 
Jamestown,  he  hurried  to  York;  but  in  spite  of  his 
urgent  and  even  angry  remonstrances,  he  could  only 
prevail  On  the  officers  to  go  after  the  enemy  by  promis- 
ing that  the  owners  of  the  ships  should  be  indemnified  in 
case  any  of  the  vessels  were  sunk  or  captured,  and  that 
the  contents  of  any  man-of-war  they  might  seize  should 
belong  to  the  officers  and  sailors  alone.  All  the  sea- 
men who  could  be  recruited  from  on  shore,  as  well  as  all 
the  ordnance  which  could  be  gathered  up,  were  added 
to  the  crews  and  armament  of  the  fleet  of  merchant- 
men. Under  no  circumstances  did  the  passionate  but 
brave  old  Governor  appear  to  more  advantage  than  in 
just  such  an  emergency  as  had  now  arisen.  He  in- 
sisted upon  placing  himself  in  chief  command  of  the 
vessels;  and  to  hasten  their  departure,  went  on  board  of 
the  flagship  accompanied  by  five  members  of  his  Coun- 
cil and  by  a  band  of  forty  gentlemen  representing  the 
principal  families  of  the  Colony.  It  was  estimated 
that  the  force  under  his  orders  numbered  as  many  as 
one  thousand  men,  occupying  nine  large  vessels.  They 
expected  to  be  opposed  by  five  Dutch  warships  with 
crews  aggregating  about  four  hundred  men  and  boys. 
Not  even  the  presence  and  authority  of  the  impatient 
Governor  could  prick  the  captains  on  to  act  with 
promptitude;  offering  one  excuse  or  another,  they 
put  off  sailing  for  several  days,  although  Berke- 
ley stormed  at  them,  and  Ludwell  charged  them 
with  cowardice;  and  when  they  did  finally  start  to 
the  assistance  of  the  merchantmen  in  James  River,  it 


198  The  Military  System 

was  too  late.  The  enemy  had  disappeared  with 
thirteen  captured  vessels  as  prizes  in  their  train. 
Five  or'  six  others  they  had  been  compelled  to  burn 
to  the  water's  edge  because  they  were  unable  to  man 
them.1 

In  1673,  England  being  again  at  war  with  Holland, 
the  English  authorities  instructed  the  Governor  and 
Council  to  place  the  Colony  in  a  state  of  defence,  as 
there  was  reason  to  anticipate  that  several  Dutch  ships 
would  be  soon  dispatched  to  ravage  the  plantations  and 
destroy  the  merchantmen  riding  in  the  different  rivers. 
Berkeley,  having  promptly  appointed  Sir  Henry 
Chichely  Lieutenant-General,  ordered  all  the  major- 
generals  and  colonels  to  draw  their  regiments  together. 
If  one  man  possessed  more  guns  than  he  could  use,  he 
was  to  supply  a  neighbor  who  was  lacking  in  arms; 
such  muskets  as  were  found  unfixed  were  to  be  fixed  at 
once;  whilst  the  shot  and  powder  belonging  to  private 
persons  were  to  be  held  in  readiness  for  instant  delivery 
to  the  proper  officers;  and  so  also  with  all  accumulations 
of  ammunition  kept  in  the  stores  for  sale.  As  the 
enemy  was  expected  to  make  his  appearance  very 
suddenly,  the  commander  of  the  militia  in  the  vicinity 
of  where  a  merchantman  was  lying,  was  directed,  on  the 
first  alarm,  to  hurry  fifty  soldiers  on  board  for  its 
defence;  and  if  there  was  more  than  one  vessel  to  be 
protected,  then  each  was  to  receive  the  same  comple- 
ment of  men.  On  the  second  alarm,  the  remaining 
soldiers  were  to  be  marched  at  once  to  the  nearest  fort 
to  strengthen  its  garrison.2 

Though  Berkeley  was  now  an  old  man,  he  showed 

»  British  Colonial  Papers,  vol.  xxi.,  Nos.  61,  62. 
J  Robinson  Transcripts,  p.  259;  Records  of  General  Court,  vol. 
1670-76,  p.  141. 


Foreign  Invasion  :  European  Foes     199 

remarkable  vigor  and  energy  in  preparing  every  part 
of  the  Colony  against  attack.  Hurrying  about  with  all 
the  activity  of  youth,  he  freely  exposed  himself  by  night 
and  day,  on  land  and  water,  in  his  zeal  to  animate  all 
with  his  own  resolute  spirit ;  for  days  he  is  said  by  those 
who  observed  his  conduct  at  this  time,  to  have  scarcely 
ate  or  slept,  to  the  imminent  hazard  of  his  health.  He 
was  seen  now  on  the  seashore,  now  in  the  heart  of  the 
Colony,  invoking,  exhorting,  and  encouraging  the  of- 
ficers, soldiers,  and  workmen.1  So  critical  an  hour  was 
highly  congenial  to  the  bustling,  impatient,  and  fearless 
qualities  of  the  man;  and  for  these  qualities  he  now 
found  a  far  more  honorable  vent  than  he  did  a  few 
years  later  when  the  mass  of  the  common  people  had 
been  driven  to  rebellion  by  the  intolerable  burdens  he 
had  been  largely  instrumental  in  imposing  on  them. 
It  is  quite  probable  that  the  excitement  of  the  Dutch 
War,  followed  up  so  soon  by  all  the  violent  scenes  of 
the  Insurrection,  had  some  influence  in  producing  in 
him,  after  Bacon's  death,  that  intemperate  state  of 
mind  which  fell  little  short  of  actual  insanity.  It  is 
one  of  the  most  dramatic  contrasts  in  colonial  history 
that  during  one  year  this  celebrated  Governor  should 
have  exhibited  such  patriotic  energy  in  repelling 
foreign  invasion,  and  three  years  later,  should  have 
found  himself  involved  in  an  internecine  strife  which 
his  own  conduct  had  been  so  powerful  in  precipitating. 
One  of  the  principal  reasons  for  apprehension  in 
1673,  when  the  Dutch  were  expected  to  descend  on  the 
shores  of  Virginia  (and  the  same  fears  had  been  also 
entertained  in  1667),  was  as  to  how  the  servants  and 
slaves  would  bear  themselves  in  so  great  an  emergency. 

«  See  Letter  from  Va.   Council  to  the   King,  British  Colonial 
Papers,  vol.  xxx.,  No.  71. 


200  The  Military  System 

Would  the  turbulent  element  among  them  seek  to  co- 
operate with  the  enemy,  or  would  it  remain  loyal  to 
master  and  mistress?  Berkeley  himself  has  recorded 
that,  when  the  soldiers  left  the  plantations  to  defend 
the  coasts,  they  did  so  with  profound  anxiety  as  to  what 
might,  during  their  absence,  happen  to  their  families  and 
estates.  There  were  now  almost  as  many  servants 
alone  as  there  were  freemen ;  and  no  better  proof  of  the 
extraordinary  distrust  in  which,  at  this  period,  that 
class  of  the  population  was  held  could  be  offered  than 
the  fact  that  its  members  were  not  permitted  to  join 
the  militia  at  an  hour  when  every  additional  man  was 
so  highly  prized.  No  doubt,  it  was  hoped  by  the 
planters  summoned  to  the  ranks  that  the  servants 
who  were  well  disposed  and  contented  would  exercise 
a  controlling  influence  over  the  servants  who  were  not, 
and  thus  assure  the  safety  of  wives  and  children  left 
behind  at  home  without  other  protection. 

Nor  were  the  departing  soldiers'  fears  directed  only  to- 
wards the  desperate  or  dissatisfied  persons  found  among 
the  servants  and  slaves, — there  were  in  Virginia  at  this 
time  many  freemen  of  a  very  rough  character,  whose 
small  estates,  however  fertile,  did  not  afford  them 
anything  more  than  a  subsistence  in  spite  of  their 
arduous  and  prolonged  labors;  and  there  was  also  an 
even  larger  number  who  were  heavily  burdened  with 
debt  contracted  in  the  effort  to  earn  a  livelihood  by 
cultivating  tobacco  in  a  poor  soil.  Both  of  these 
sections  of  the  community  were  perhaps  more  restless 
and  discontented  than  the  lower  element  among  the 
servants  and  slaves,  who  at  least  were  supplied  with  an 
ample  quantity  of  food.  It  was  not  unreasonable  in 
the  planters,  as  they  went  forth  from  their  homes  to 
repel  the  Dutch,  to  think  that,  should  the  enemy  obtain 


Foreign  Invasion:  European  Foes     201 

the  advantage  in  the  impending  conflict,  these  men, 
though  as  much  freemen  as  themselves,  might  be 
tempted  to  throw  off  their  allegiance  in  the  hope  of 
sharing  in  the  plunder  of  the  country,  or  of  bring- 
ing about  in  other  ways  some  improvement  in  their 
condition. 

Brave  and  confident  as  Berkeley  himself  was,  he 
confessed  to  some  misgivings  as  to  the  outcome  of  the 
war,  not  on  account  of  the  possible  attitude  of  dis- 
affected servants,  slaves,  and  freemen,  but  on  account  of 
the  possible  attitude  of  the  soldiers  themselves  when 
exposed  to  the  trying  uncertainties,  hardships,  and 
privations  of  actual  hostilities.  Owing  to  the  scarcity 
of  provisions,  it  would  be  impossible  to  keep  so  large 
a  body  of  men  in  one  place;  they  would  be  compelled 
to  move  about  from  camp  to  camp.  Moreover,  not 
having  been  seasoned  by  harsh  experience  to  the  fright- 
ful features  of  a  real  battle,  the  most  absolute  reli- 
ance could  not  be  put  in  their  courage  when  confronted 
with  an  enemy  so  hardened  to  the  sound  of  cannon  and 
musketry  as  the  Dutch,  known  to  be  among  the 
stoutest-hearted  fighters  in  the  world.  These  appre- 
hensions of  Berkeley  proved  to  be  wholly  groundless. 
So  active  were  the  militia  in  their  movements,  so  bravely 
did  they  face  the  enemy  whenever  he  sought  to  make 
a  landing,  that  he  was  forced  to  retire  without  inflicting 
any  damage,  or  even  securing  the  fresh  water  so  much 
needed  now  by  the  crews  of  the  hostile  ships.  The 
merchantmen  which  had  failed  to  take  refuge  under  the 
guns  of  some  one  of  the  forts,  alone  suffered,  but  only 
a  few  had  been  too  slow  in  seeking  such  protection.1 

The  prospect  of  but  one  other  invasion  disturbed  the 

»  Letter  of  Berkeley  and  Council,  dated  July  16,  1673,  British 
Colonial  Papers. 


202  The  Military  System 

Colony's  peace  during  the  remainder  of  this  century. 
Whilst  the  war  which  broke  out  between  the  English 
and  French  about  1690  was  in  progress,  there  was  much 
popular  apprehension  lest  a  French  fleet  should  ravage 
the  coasts  of  Virginia  and  burn  or  carry  off  the  mer- 
chantmen anchored  in  the  different  streams.  As  soon 
as  news  reached  Jamestown  that  there  was  momentary 
danger  of  an  attack  by  such  a  fleet,  the  Governor  issued 
a  proclamation  appointing  certain  places  in  each  of  the 
principal  rivers  where  the  trading  ships  were  to  ride  for 
protection.  Sandy  Point  above  Jamestown  island  was 
selected  for  the  upper  parts  of  the  James;  and  a  bend  in 
the  Elizabeth  beyond  the  town  site  for  the  lower  parts. 
In  the  Nansemond,  the  vessels  were  to  sail  up  stream 
until  they  had  passed  the  fort ;  in  the  York,  they  were 
to  proceed  to  a  bay  west  of  the  fort  at  Tyndall's  Point; 
and  in  the  Rappahannock  to  the  neighborhood  of  the 
fort  situated  on  the  Corotoman.  In  all  these  cases, 
the  vessels  would  be  sheltered  from  pursuit  by  the 
intervening  fortification.  Should  a  merchantman, 
when  the  warning  proclamation  reached  its  captain, 
happen  to  be  riding  in  a  river  on  which  no  fort  had  been 
built,  then  it  was  to  weigh  anchor,  and  move  as  far  up 
stream  as  the  water's  depth  should  permit;  in  this  way, 
it  was  quite  certain  to  escape  attack,  as  the  French 
men-of-war,  requiring  a  greater  number  of  fathoms, 
would  be  unable  to  follow  except  at  an  imminent  risk 
of  running  aground.  Minute  and  farsighted  as  these 
precautions  were,  they  fortunately  proved  to  be  un- 
necessary, as  the  French,  not  being  as  bold  sailors 
as  the  Dutch,  made  no  effort  to  send  a  fleet  oversea 
to  molest  the  colonists.1 

1  B.  T.  Va.,  1690,  No.  3;  see  also  Essex  County  Records,  vol. 
169^-95,  p.  181,  Va.  St.  Libr. 


CHAPTER  XVI 
Foreign  Invasion  :  Pirates 

PERHAPS  the  foreign  enemies  most  often  arousing 
the  apprehensions  of  the  Virginians  during  the 
latter  part  of  the  Seventeenth  century  were  the 
pirates,  who,  in  these  early  times,  made  such  frequent 
descents  on  the  American  coasts  without  giving  the 
slightest  warning  of  their  approach.  They  were  at 
war  with  all  mankind,  and  their  depredations  were  not 
preceded,  as  in  the  case  of  an  ordinary  foe,  by  any 
declaration  of  hostilities;  they  would  arrive  under  the 
cover  of  night,  carry  their  ravages  along  the  nearest 
shores,  or  overhaul  all  the  vessels  they  met  in  the  course 
of  the  following  few  days,  and  then  sail  away  into  the 
unknown  ocean ;  or  they  would  land  upon  some  outly- 
ing deserted  island  in  order  to  secure  water  and  fuel, 
and  then,  when  that  object  was  accomplished,  dis- 
appear without  disturbing  the  inhabitants  of  the 
mainland. 

One  of  the  earliest  instances  of  a  pirate  ship  entering 
the  Capes  of  Virginia  occurred  in  1682,  in  which  year 
such  a  ship  made  its  way  up  the  Bay  as  far  as  the  mouth 
of  the  York,  where  it  anchored,  perhaps  because  the 
captain  was  in  a  state  of  some  doubt  as  to  whether 
it  would  be  safe  to  run  by  the  platform  at  Tyndall's 
Point.  This,  however,  did  not  prevent  him  from  send- 
ing up  the  river  several    boats  manned    by  strongly 

203 


204  The  Military  System 

armed  crews  who,  landing  on  the  plantations  of  Mrs. 
Rebecca  Leake  and  Mr.  John  Williams,  and  visiting 
their  residences,  carried  off  a  large  quantity  of  valuable 
articles.  These  buccaneers  had  found  their  way  into 
the  waters  of  Virginia  with  the  hope  that  they  would 
be  able  to  rifle  the  numerous  vessels,  sloops,  and  shallops 
constantly  passing  in  and  out  between  Capes  Charles 
and  Henry.  The  Council,  having  been  informed  of 
their  presence,  ordered  Colonel  William  Cole  to  impress 
a  bark  or  ketch,  twelve  barrels  of  pork,  and  a  full  com- 
plement of  men,  and  to  start  at  once  in  pursuit.1  These 
pirates  were  not  captured  until  they  had  reached  the 
coast  of  Rhode  Island,  and  from  thence  they  were 
brought  back  to  Virginia  in  irons.  Imprisoned  in 
Middlesex  county,  they  contrived  to  break  out  of  jail 
and  escape.  Two,  however,  were  soon  overtaken, 
seized,  and  conveyed  to  Jamestown,  and  there  tried  and 
sentenced  to  be  hanged.  One  of  the  men  thus  convicted 
was  a  native  of  Poland.  Both  of  them  managed  to  get 
away  the  night  before  the  day  set  for  their  execution; 
but  after  successfully  eluding  recapture,  returned  and 
voluntarily  gave  themselves  up.  They  declared  that 
they  were  now  ready  to  die,  and  that  they  had  fled  and 
concealed  themselves  for  the  few  days  they  were  absent 
merely  to  prepare  themselves  the  more  carefully  for 
their  approaching  end.  This  curious  speech  made  such 
a  deep  impression  that  numerous  petitions  begging  for 
their  unconditional  pardon  were  received  by  the 
Governor;  and  he  was  so  much  in  sympathy  with  the 

»  Minutes  of  Council,  June  25,  1682,  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1680- 
95,  p.  129.  Cole  seems  to  have  impressed  the  sloop  belonging  to 
a  Mr.  Dunbar,  who,  for  its  use,  as  well  as  for  provisions  supplied 
and  services  furnished,  was  allowed  fifteen  hundred  and  fifty-five 
pounds  of  tobacco;  see  Public  Levy,  Nov.  io,  1682,  Colonial  Entry 
Book,  1680-95. 


Foreign  Invasion  :  Pirates  205 

prayer  that  he  respited  the  culprits  until  the  King 
should  decide  whether  they  should  not  be  released 
altogether.1 

In  1683,  the  year  following  these  buccaneers'  capture, 
Virginia  was  infested  with  pirates  to  a  greater  degree 
than  usual.  Secretary  Spencer,  writing  to  one  of  the 
English  Secretaries  of  State,  declared  that  the  force 
mustered  by  some  of  their  vessels  appearing  in  the  waters 
of  the  Colony  was  so  strong  that  it  would  be  foolhardy 
and  headstrong  in  the  captain  of  the  guard-ship,  which 
was  manned  by  only  eighteen  officers  and  sailors,  to 
attempt  to  attack  them;  and  that  all  that  could  be 
properly  expected  of  this  ship  was  that  it  should  be 
on  the  watch  for  the  arrival  of  these  "land  and  sea 
robbers,' '  and  as  soon  as  they  came  in  sight,  carry 
intelligence  of  their  presence  to  the  nearest  authorities.2 
It  would  seem  that  the  buccaneers  would  sometimes 
endeavor  to  conceal  their  true  character  in  order  the 
better  to  hide  the  purposes  of  depredation  which  they 
had  in  view ;  and  this  was  so  notorious  that  the  Council 
felt  called  upon  in  1683  to  issue  an  injunction  to  the 
pilots  belonging  to  the  several  rivers  not  to  serve  a  ship 
whose  actions  raised  the  suspicion  that  it  was  a  piratical 
craft  seeking  for  the  moment  to  disguise  itself.3 

So  numerous  were  the  pirate  vessels  hovering  in  the 
Chesapeake  about  1684,  that  it  was  found  necessary 
to  adopt  regulations  for  the  guidance  of  the  military 
authorities  when  aiming  to  destroy  or  drive  them  off. 
A  proclamation  now  issued  by  Howard  provided  that, 
as  soon  as  a  piratical  ship  was  discovered  riding  in  the 

1  Minutes  of  Council,  Dec.  13,  1682,  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1680- 

95.  P-   J47- 

2  Spencer  to  Secr'y  Jenkins,  British  Colonial  Papers,  vol.  li.f  No. 

3°- 

3  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1680-95,  P-  l8°- 


206  The  Military  System 

waters  of  Virginia,  the  principal  commissioned  officer 
of  the  district  in  which  it  was  seen  was  to  send  infor- 
mation of  the  fact  to  the  Governor,  or  the  member  of 
the  Council  whose  residence  happened  to  be  the  nearest ; 
and  having  done  this,  he  was  to  call  together  all  the 
militia  of  the  surrounding  country  and  distribute  them 
among  the  places  seemingly  in  the  greatest  need  of 
defence.1  That  the  most  energetic  steps  were  taken 
in  accord  with  these  regulations  to  repel  the  buccaneers 
was  shown  by  the  report  of  Howard  himself  the  follow- 
ing year:  although  the  "pilfering  pirates,' '  he  declared, 
had  succeeded  in  doing  some  harm  to  the  inhabitants 
of  those  parts  of  the  Colony  where  they  had  landed, 
they  had  been  pursued  with  great  promptness,  and  many 
having  been  captured  before  they  could  find  a  refuge  in 
their  ships,  the  worst  of  the  band  were  very  soon  exe- 
cuted.2 Nevertheless,  freebooters  of  the  same  des- 
perate character  continued  to  descend  upon  the  coast. 
The  difficulty  of  resisting  them  successfully  was,  at 
this  time,  so  great  that  the  King,  in  1685,  offered  a  gen- 
eral pardon  to  all  who  would  abandon  their  unlawful 
life  and  surrender  themselves  to  any  Governor  or  Com- 
mander-in-chief belonging  to  the  plantations.  A  limit 
of  three  months  within  which  to  submit  was  allowed 
to  those  pirates  who,  at  the  date  of  the  royal  proclama- 
tion, happened  to  be  scouring  the  waters  of  the  North 
Atlantic;  and  of  six  to  those  more  remotely  situated. 
After  yielding  themselves  up  to  the  King's  representa- 
tives, they  were  to  set  out  for  England,  in  order  to  ob- 
tain their  pardon  in  person,  and  to  give  security  for 
their  future  good  conduct.  Every  pirate  refusing  to 
take  advantage  of  the  opportunity  afforded  him  to 

1  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1680-95,  p.  200. 

2  British  Colonial  Papers,  vol.  lv.,  No.  122. 


Foreign  Invasion:  Pirates  207 

relieve  himself  of  the  legal  consequences  of  his  evil 
occupation,  was  to  be  subject  to  the  forfeiture  of  his 
life  and  estates,  should  he  be  captured.1 

This  proclamation  does  not  appear  to  have  lessened 
the  number  of  piratical  vessels  infesting  the  waters 
of  the  Colony.  In  February,  1687-8,  the  guard-ship 
Dunbarton  succeeded  in  capturing  a  large  number  of 
buccaneers  who  had  come  to  anchor  within  the  limits 
of  Accomac  county.2  At  this  time,  as  well  as  later, 
several  of  the  outlying  islands  of  the  Eastern  Shore 
were  the  favorite  resorts  of  these  sea-robbers,  for  here 
they  could  always  obtain  fresh  water,  and  sometimes 
even  secure  beef  and  pork  by  killing  the  cattle  and  hogs 
running  wild  in  the  marshes.3 

In  this  age,  there  was  but  a  narrow  line  of  division 
between  the  pirate  and  the  privateer.  Many  privateers, 
after  preying  upon  the  enemy's  commerce,  did  not 
hesitate  to  rifle  any  ship,  whether  belonging  to  their 
own  or  a  friendly  nationality,  which  happened  to  cross 
their  track.  Though  keeping  these  latter  acts  in  the 
dark,  the  crew  of  such  a  vessel  were  no  doubt  much 
inclined  to  boast  of  their  achievements  against  an 
acknowledged  enemy.  So  great  was  the  quantity  of 
plate,  coin,  precious  stones,  the  rarest  silks  and  cost- 
liest cloths,  captured  by  many  of  these  so-called  pri- 
vateers that  the  accounts  of  their  success  reaching  the 
Colony  from  time  to  time  were  thought  by  some  of  the 
Governors  to  tend  to  demoralize  the  population  in 
the  pursuit  of  their  usual  avocations.    It  was  reported 


«  Howard  issued  this  proclamation  in  Virginia.  It  was  dated 
May  2,  1687;  see  British  Colonial  Papers,  vol.  lx.,  No.  58. 

»  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1680-95,  P-  27°- 

>  See  Report  of  Col.  John  Custis  to  Council,  May  15, 1691,  Colonial 
Entry  Book,  1680-95. 


208  The  Military  System 

in  Virginia,  in  1692,  that  a  ship  of  this  kind,  which 
pretended  to  be  from  the  Red  Sea,  had  not  long  ago 
arrived  in  South  Carolina;  and  that  its  officers  and  sea- 
men had  stated  that  they  had  recently  divided  among 
themselves  two  thousand  pounds  sterling  (equal  to 
at  least  forty  thousand  dollars  in  purchasing  power) 
taken  from  the  coffers  of  a  Moorish  vessel  overhauled  in 
the  course  of  their  last  cruise.  "  I  fear,"  wrote  Nichol- 
son in  deprecation  of  the  sensation  which  this  news 
had  caused  in  the  Colony,  "  that,  if  such  people  be  en- 
couraged, it  may  prejudice  his  Majesty's  service  by 
debauching  the  inhabitants  to  make  them  leave  plant- 
ing and  following  ye  same  trade."  And  in  conclusion, 
he  added :  "  I  very  much  fear  these  sort  of  privateers 
or  rather  pirates  when  they  have  spent  lavishly  what 
they  have  got,  then  they  are  ready,  if  not  before,  to 
make  disturbance  in  the  Government."1 

There  seems  to  have  been  some  ground  for  Nicholson's 
thinking  that  many  of  the  colonists  would  be  led  away 
by  the  privateers'  rich  captures.  This  booty,  whenever 
it  was  brought  into  Virginia,  where  it  was  always 
seen  by  many  persons,  was  well  calculated  to  dazzle 
the  eye  and  over-stimulate  the  imagination  of  the 
beholder.  In  1688,  for  instance,  the  captain  of  the 
guard-ship  Dunbarton  arrested  three  men  who  had  in 
their  possession  an  almost  incredible  amount  of 
treasure,  in  the  form  of  broken  silver  plate,  foreign 
money,  and  silver  bullets,  the  whole,  which  filled 
several  chests,  weighing  from  four  hundred  to  five 
hundred  pounds.  As  it  was  suspected  that  these 
articles  had  been  taken  from  a  ship  wrongfully 
captured,    they    were    carried    off   to    England    by 

1  Letter  of  Nicholson,  July  16,  1692,  B.  T.  Va.,  Entry  Book,  vol. 
xxxvi.,  p.  207. 


Foreign  Invasion:  Pirates  209 

Howard,  and  there  delivered  to  the  Government.1 
The  incident  excited  lively  comment  in  the  Colony, 
and  descriptions  of  the  precious  metal  did  not  grow- 
less  graphic  in  passing  from  mouth  to  mouth.  It 
was  supposed  by  some  persons  of  those  times  that  the 
cupidity  thus  aroused  induced  many  people  to  give  a 
friendly  reception  to  the  buccaneers  when  they  under- 
took to  land.  u  If  the  pirates  have  not  supplies  and  a 
market  for  the  goods  that  they  plunder  and  rob,"  wrote 
Robert  Quarry,  of  Philadelphia,  to  Governor  Nicholson 
in  1699,  "they  would  never  continue  in  these  parts  of 
the  world." 2  There  is  no  proof,  however,  that  such 
marauders  found  any  section  of  the  population  of 
Virginia  disposed  to  enter  into  practical  collusion  with 
them,  either  by  purchasing  outright  their  ill-gotten 
merchandise,  or  by  furnishing  them  with  victual  in 
exchange  for  it. 

In  June,  1699,  a  ship,  having  among  its  passengers 
sixty  pirates  belonging  to  the  band  of  the  notorious 
Captain  Kidd,  and  loaded  down  with  Eastern  merchan- 
dise of  extraordinary  value,  arrived  in  Delaware  Bay, 
after  an  unbroken  voyage  from  the  island  of  Madagascar. 
It  was  under  Captain  Shelley's  command,  who  admitted 
that  he  had  obtained  his  cargo  by  trading  with  the 
pirates  in  those  remote  waters.  Eighteen  of  the 
buccaneers  brought  over  remained  at  Cape  May,  while 
nine,  having  secured  a  sloop,  made  their  way  towards 
Virginia,  possibly  with  a  considerable  quantity  of  goods 
for  sale  in  that  Colony.  In  the  meanwhile,  other  small 
vessels  were  expected  from  New  York,  which  were  to 

i  B.  T.  Va.,  1690,  No.  1;  1691,  No.  47.  The  names  of  the  three 
men  were  Edward  Davis,  John  Hinson,  and  Lionel  Delawafer. 
The  seizure  of  this  treasure  led  to  a  long  controversy. 

2  B.  T.  Va.,  1699,  vol.  vii.,  p.  79. 

VOL.  II. -14 


210  The  Military  System 

convey  thither  the  rest  of  the  merchandise.  Informa- 
tion of  this  ship's  presence  in  the  Jerseys,  and  the 
departure  of  a  part  of  its  crew  for  Virginia,  was  prompt- 
ly sent  to  Governor  Nicholson,  so  that  he  might  take 
steps  to  arrest  them  so  soon  as  they  arrived.1  Nor 
were  these  the  only  marauders  whom  that  officer  was 
called  upon  to  look  out  for  during  the  same  year;  in 
1699  also,  a  large  band  of  pirates  landed  on  Block 
Island  within  the  limits  of  Rhode  Island.  Having 
removed  to  shore  all  their  booty,  which  happened  to  be 
in  the  form  of  money  and  plate,  they  allowed  their  ship 
to  sink,  and  then  breaking  up  into  separate  bands,  they 
dispersed  in  several  directions.  One  of  these  bands  was 
reported  to  have  turned  its  face  towards  Virginia ;  and 
news  of  this  fact  having  reached  Nicholson,  he  issued 
a  proclamation  ordering  their  capture  so  soon  as  they 
were  discovered  to  be  within  the  bounds  of  the  Colony.2 
A  short  time  after  this  proclamation  was  published, 
Thomas  Wellburn,  the  sheriff  of  Accomac,  sent  the 
Governor  word  that  Mr.  Matthew  Scarborough  had 
lately  informed  him  that  he  had  conversed  only  a  few 
days  before  with  two  persons  who  had  recently  visited 
a  ship  belonging  to  Captain  Kidd,  then  lying  off  the 
coast ;  and  that  they  had  stated  that  this  vessel  carried 
a  very  large  complement  of  men,  and  that  it  was  armed 
with  forty-two  cannon.  The  sloop  accompanying  her 
had  on  board  eighteen  additional  guns.     It  was  also 

1  Robert  Quarry  to  Nicholson,  June  2,  1699,  B.  T.  Va.,  vol.  vii., 
p.  79.  Quarry  declared  in  this  letter  that  the  people  of  the  Jerseys 
assisted  Captain  Shelley,  though  suspected  of  being  a  pirate  him- 
self, and  certainly  known  to  be  in  collusion  with  pirates.  "Not' 
a  magistrate  of  this  country,"  he  wrote,  "will  concern  himself, 
but  exclaims  against  me  for  disturbing  the  men  that  bring  money 
into  the  country." 

2  Minutes  of  Council,  June  8,  1699,  B.  T.  Va.,  vol.  liii. 


Foreign  Invasion:  Pirates  211 

reported  by  these  two  witnesses,  probably  with  consid- 
erable exaggeration,  that  the  ship  contained  treasure 
amounting  in  value  to  five  hundred  and  twenty  thou- 
sand pounds  sterling;  that  there  were  not  less  than 
thirty-  tons  of  precious  metal  stored  below  deck;  and 
that  when  this  cargo  of  fabulous  wealth  was  divided 
up,  each  pirate  would  be  entitled  to  four  thousand 
pounds  in  gold  and  silver.1 

Only  a  few  days  before  Wellburn's  letter  was  written, 
Captain  Aldred,  of  the  Essex  Prize,  had  sighted  the  pirate 
ship  in  Lynnhaven  Bay,  to  which  waters  she  had  leisurely 
gone  from  the  coast  of  Accomac.  He  described  her  as 
being  an  English  built  vessel,  equipped  with  about 
thirty  guns,  and  with  the  King's  colors  and  a  red  flag 
flying  at  her  maintop  masthead.  He  learned  that  she 
was  known  sometimes  as  the  Alexander,  and  sometimes 
as  the  Providence  Galley;  that  she  was  under  the  com- 
mand of  one  John  James ;  and  that  she  was  manned  by 
a  crew  of  thirty.  Aldred  promptly  bore  down  on  her 
when  she  came  in  sight,  but  having  been  received  with 
a  sharp  volley,  and  deeming  his  own  force,  owing  to  the 
absence  of  seven  of  his  seamen  on  shore,  insufficient, 
he  stood  off;  and  soon  returning  to  the  north  side  of 
the  river,  sent  a  dispatch  to  the  Governor  to  inform  him 
of  the  pirate's  presence.  Finding  themselves  unmo- 
lested, the  buccaneers  now  began  to  plunder  every 
boat,  sloop,  and  ship  that  passed  within  their  reach. 
First,  they  seized  a  fly  boat,  and  having  stripped  her 

'  Letter  of  Wellbtirn  dated  "Chincateaque,  June  29,  1699," 
B.  T.  Va.,  vol.  Hi.,  p.  40.  The  ship  and  sloop  together  were 
manned  by  a  crew  of  one  hundred  and  thirty.  Wellburn's  words 
were:  "Mr.  Matthew  Scarborough  informs  me  that  one  Stretcher 
and  Peter  Lewis  of  ye  Whon'kill  was  aboard  of  Kidd,  and  they 
reported,  etc.  "  These  two  men  had  merely  visited  the  pirate  ship, 
though  described  as  having  "formerly  been  of  the  same  function." 


212  The  Military  System 

of  her  main  and  top  sails  and  her  best  bower  anchor, 
they  next  rifled  her  of  one  hundred  pounds  of  merchan- 
dise of  various  sorts.  Not  content  with  this,  they 
forced  eight  members  of  her  crew  to  join  them.  A 
second  sloop  was  robbed  of  its  entire  cargo  of  wheat. 
The  same  night,  the  pirate  ship  moved  out  of  the  Capes 
with  the  intention,  as  was  shown  afterwards,  of  stopping 
any  vessel  which  might  be  observed  to  be  making  its 
way  in.  On  the  following  morning,  the  Roanoke,  a 
merchantman,  was  peremptorily  ordered  to  lower  her 
flag,  as  she  was  about  to  enter  the  Bay.  Her  captain 
noticed  that  many  of  the  buccaneers  (who  had  soon 
mounted  to  his  deck)  had  gold  chains  suspended  about 
their  necks;  and  that  their  leader  had  attached  a  gold 
toothpick  to  the  one  he  wore.  This  leader,  having 
hastily  read  the  Roanoke's  clearance  papers,  directed 
his  men  to  seize  that  vessel's  sloop,  and  having  loaded 
her  with  the  pork,  peas,  and  other  foodstuffs  forming 
a  part  of  the  Roanoke's  cargo,  to  carry  them  on  board 
his  own  ship ;  at  the  same  time,  he  assured  the  captain 
of  the  Roanoke  that  he  had  no  reason  to  be  alarmed 
for  his  own  personal  safety.  The  pirates  were  soon 
engaged  in  removing  the  articles,  which  consisted  of 
sixteen  barrels  of  pork,  one  barrel  of  tallow,  twenty- 
nine  bushels  of  beans,  several  casks  of  water,  and  a 
large  number  of  firelocks  and  carpenter's  tools,  to- 
gether with  a  great  quantity  of  rope  and  ammunition. 
While  this  was  in  progress,  the  commander  of  the 
merchantman  was  compelled  to  leave  his  ship  and  to 
go  on  board  of  the  pirate  vessel,  whose  captain,  after 
conversing  in  the  cabin  with  him  for  some  time,  ordered 
him  to  fetch  a  large  quantity  of  fresh  water  kept  in  the 
fly  boat,  but  the  tide  preventing  him  from  returning 
promptly,  the  buccaneer  leader,  becoming  impatient, 


Foreign  Invasion  :  Pirates  213 

set  out  in  person  to  bring  both  him  and  the  water  back; 
and  the  commander  of  the  Roanoke  was  detained  on 
board,  until,  night  coming  on,  the  ship  weighed  anchor 
and  moved  out  to  sea.1 

The  captain  of  these  pirates  did  not  confine  his 
seizures  to  the  provisions  he  needed,  but  forced  two 
officers  of  the  Roanoke,  one  of  whom  was  the  mate,  to 
abandon  their  ship  and  accompany  him.  There  was 
already  included  among  the  members  of  his  crew  a 
sailor  whom  the  merchantman's  commander  had 
recognized  as  formerly  belonging  to  a  brigantine 
recently  captured  by  the  buccaneers;  and  it  was  by  no 
means  improbable  that  a  large  number  of  his  compan- 
ions had  been  originally  impressed  like  himself.  This 
was  an  ordinary  occurrence  in  these  early  times.  As 
a  rule,  the  men  so  taken  were  in  the  beginning  carried 
off  against  their  will,  but  they  soon  became  reconciled 
to  their  new  situation  when  they  found  themselves 
rewarded  at  a  rate  far  higher  than  any  they  had  ever 
before  known.  Among  the  buccaneers  tried  at  Eliza- 
beth City  near  the  end  of  the  century,  was  one  who 
stated  that,  when  he  was  brought  a  prisoner  on  board 
of  the  pirate  ship,  the  captain  consoled  him  by  saying : 
"  You  have  been  serving  in  a  merchantman  for  twenty- 
five  shillings  a  month.  Here  you  may  have  seven  or 
eight  pounds  a  month  if  you  can  take  it."2  The  utter 
helplessness  of  the  captive's  position  compelled  him  to 
resign  himself  to  his  fate,  and  many  who,  left  to  their 
own  guidance,  would  have  shrunk  back  in  horror  from 
the  thought  of  complicity  in  murder  and  robbery,  no 
doubt,  in  time,  under  the  seductive  influence  of  a  share 

•  Letters  of  Captain  Aldred,  B.  T.  Va.,  vol.  Hi.,  p.  40.  The  de- 
scription of  the  pirate  appears  in  a  letter  from  Aldred  dated  July 
26,  1699.  2  B.  T.  Va.,  vol.  Hi.,  p.  55. 


214  The  Military  System 

in  the  booty,  took  rank  among  the  boldest  and  most 
energetic  of  these  outlaws. 

After  the  Roanoke  was  released,  she  directed  her 
course  towards  Annapolis  in  the  Province  of  Maryland, 
but  news  of  her  adventure  was  soon  brought  to  the 
Governor  and  Council  at  Jamestown.  As  these  officers 
were  confident  that  the  pirate  ship  was  still  hovering 
off  the  coast,  and  might  at  any  time  reappear  within 
the  Capes,  they  issued  a  proclamation  providing  for 
a  strict  lookout  at  every  point  where  she  was  likely 
to  be  seen.  The  commanders-in-chief  of  the  militia 
of  Elizabeth  City,  Norfolk,  Princess  Anne,  Accomac 
and  Northampton  counties  were  ordered  to  appoint  in 
their  respective  districts  persons  who,  without  interrup- 
tion, should  patrol  the  shores  until  the  twenty-ninth 
day  of  the  following  October,  an  interval  of  about  three 
and  a  half  months.  One  man  was  to  be  chosen  whose 
duty  it  should  be  to  pass  constantly  backwards  and  for- 
wards along  the  beach  between  Cape  Henry  and  Curri- 
tuck Inlet ;  another  to  walk  the  length  of  the  seaboard 
in  Accomac;  another  the  length  of  the  seaboard  in 
Northampton;  and  a  fourth  to  be  stationed  on  Smith's 
Island  situated  not  far  from  Cape  Charles.  Should 
any  one  of  these  watchers  discover  a  boat  making  its 
way  to  the  shore  which  there  was  good  reason  to  suspect 
was  occupied  by  pirates,  then  he  was  to  hasten  to  in- 
form the  nearest  militia  officer  in  order  that  the  whole 
country  might  be  at  once  aroused;  this  was  done  by 
this  officer  in  his  turn  reporting  the  same  fact  to  all 
the  neighboring  commanders-in-chief;  and  they,  in  their 
turn,  were  required  to  report  it  to  the  Governor  and 
Council  at  Jamestown ;  and  if  possible  the  same  news  was 
to  be  communicated  to  the  captain  of  the  guard-ship.1 

i  B.  T.  Va.,  vol.  Hi.,  p.  39. 


Foreign  Invasion:  Pirates  215 

This  was  not  the  first  time  that  such  regulations  as 
these  had  been  adopted  for  the  coast's  protection; 
among  the  sums  the  Council  had,  in  1688,  ordered  to  be 
disbursed  was  one  of  four  pounds  and  ten  shillings  in 
favor  of  Gilbert  Moore,  who  during  three  months  had 
been  engaged  in  patrolling  the  shore  on  the  seaboard 
side  of  Accomac  and  Northampton.1  In  1690,  the  same 
body,  having  carefully  weighed  the  great  damage  pos- 
sible to  be  inflicted  by  an  enemy  who  should  arrive 
suddenly  and  unexpectedly,  instructed  Colonel  John 
Lear  to  select  some  person  to  keep  watch  on  the  sea- 
board side  of  Lower  Norfolk  county,  whilst  Colonel 
Custis  was  authorized  to  make  a  similar  appointment 
for  the  seaboard  side  of  the  Eastern  Shore.2  Two  years 
later,  this  command  was  repeated  for  each  district.3 
Thomas  Moore  was  now  chosen  to  range  and  scout  at 
least  once  a  week  on  the  side  of  Smith's  Island  facing  the 
open  ocean;  and  also  on  the  side  facing  the  Capes;  and 
daily  also  to  make  observations  from  the  bay  side  of 
the  mainland.  As  soon  as  he  should  detect  the  sails 
of  a  suspicious  ship,  he  was  to  leave  his  post  and  inform 
the  nearest  militia  officer  of  the  vessel's  approach.4 

Down  to  1699,  the  vigilance  of  the  lookout  on  Smith's 
Island  had  not  been  relaxed,  for  in  October  of  that  year 
Colonel  John  Custis  reported  to  Nicholson  that,  a  few 
days  before,  a  pirate  ship  had  dropped  anchor  behind 


«  Minutes  of  Assembly,  April,  1691.  Colonial  Entry  Book, 
1682-95. 

2  B.  T.  Va.,  1690,  No.  11 ;  see  also  Orders  Jan'y  15,  1690,  Colonial 
Entry  Book,    1680-1695. 

3  Orders  of  the  Council,  April  19,  1692,  Colonial  Entry  Book, 
1680-95. 

*  Northampton  County  Records,  vol.  1689-98,  p.  168.  In  1692, 
the  appointment  of  a  watcher  for  the  Eastern  Shore  was  left  to 
the  justices  of  the  county  courts  of  that  part  of  the  Colony. 


216  The  Military  System 

the  island,  and  that,  in  a  short  time,  a  band  of  twelve 
well  armed  men,  having  landed,  had  proceeded  to  shoot 
down  all  the  cattle  and  hogs  coming  within  the  range 
of  their  guns.  The  carcasses  were  skinned  and  the  meat 
cut  up  and  carried  off  to  the  vessel,  which,  as  soon  as 
night  had  fallen,  stole  away  in  the  darkness.  Smith's 
Island,  from  its  lonely  position  off  the  coast,  offered  the 
buccaneers  a  comparatively  safe  place  for  obtaining 
supplies  of  fresh  victuals,  fuel,  and  water.  No  watcher 
on  the  mainland  could  approach  its  shore  if  the  waves 
were  running  high;  and  it  would  require  one  hundred  men 
with  good  muskets  to  capture  a  party  of  pirates  who 
should  land.  Custis  eagerly  urged  that  a  frigate  should 
be  stationed  at  the  mouth  of  the  only  stream  to  be 
found  on  the  island,  as  the  one  place  where  the  pirates 
would  be  compelled  to  drop  anchor  in  case  they  wished 
to  go  ashore.  The  villains,  he  asserted,  were  afraid  to 
disembark  on  the  mainland  to  secure  what  they  needed 
in  the  way  of  water,  wood,  and  provisions,  as  a  military 
force  could  be  soon  raised  there  to  beat  them  off. 

Under  the  influence  of  this  letter  and  the  like  received 
about  this  time,  the  Council  declared  that  the  dangers 
to  be  expected  from  the  pirates  constantly  "  grew  greater 
and  greater";  and  they  earnestly  recommended  that 
the  Governor  should  beg  the  King  to  take  the  prompt- 
est steps  to  exterminate  these  terrible  outlaws.  The 
Committee  of  Plantations  had  recently  sent  Nicholson 
a  list  of  the  names  of  the  most  notorious  offenders  in- 
festing the  American  coasts;  and  this  list  he  now  pub- 
lished in  a  proclamation  in  which  he  offered  twenty 
pounds  sterling  for  the  capture  of  each  of  the  buccaneers 
whose  names  were  given.1 

»  B.  T.  Va.,  vol.  lii.,  p.  43 ;  for  Custis's  report,  see  ibid.,  p.  42. 


CHAPTER  XVII 
Foreign  Invasion:   Pirates  (Continued) 

EARLY  in  the  year  1699-1700,  Nicholson  received 
an  order  from  the  English  Government  to  send 
to  England  all  the  pirates  at  that  time  languish- 
ing in  Virginia  prisons ;  and  they  were  to  be  accompanied 
by  the  witnesses  relied  on  for  their  conviction.  All 
such  offenders  who  might  be  seized  in  the  future  were 
directed  to  be  tried  in  the  Colony,  provided  that  the 
circumstances  attending  their  capture  were  not  such  as 
to  arouse  the  people's  compassion  to  such  a  degree  as  to 
assure  their  acquittal.  Should  the  Governor,  in  a  special 
case,  have  reason  to  think  that  a  jury  would  decline 
to  bring  in  an  adverse  verdict,  then  the  pirate  was. to 
be  transported  to  England,  with  a  view  to  having  the 
charge  against  him  investigated  there. x 

It  was  not  many  months  before  the  Governor  had 
occasion  to  exercise  the  discretion  allowed  him  by 
the  terms  of  this  order.  Never  had  the  buccaneers 
shown  more  activity  or  caused  more  alarm  among  the 
merchantmen  trading  with  Virginia  than  during  the 
last  year  of  the  century.  But  there  was  now  a  guard- 
ship  fully  capable,  both  in  the  number  of  its  guns,  and 
the  courageous  spirit  of  its  officers  and  crew,  of  coping 
with  any  single  pirate  vessel;  this  was  the  Shorehatn, 

•  Letter  to  Nicholson,  February  10,  1 699-1 700,  B.  T.  Va.t  Entry- 
Book,  vol.  xxxvii. 

217 


218  The  Military  System 

still  under  the  command  of  Captain  Passenger,  who 
always  found  in  Nicholson  a  supporter  ready  at  any 
moment  to  risk  his  life  in  actual  conflict  with  the  out- 
laws. That  Governor,  however,  was  not  content  to 
rely  upon  this  ship  alone  for  the  Colony's  protection 
from  their  ravages.  Having  in  April  1700,  been  in- 
formed that  there  were  several  pirate  vessels  lying  in 
Lynnhaven  Bay,  he  at  once  dispatched  an  order  to  Col. 
Thomas  Ballard  and  Major  William  Buckner,  of  York, 
to  notify  every  merchantman  riding  in  York  River 
of  the  freebooters'  presence;  and  also  to  call  together, 
at  the  earliest  moment,  the  county's  military  forces 
to  resist  a  possible  landing.  A  message  of  the  like 
import  was  to  be  sent  by  these  officers  to  the  commanders 
of  the  militia  in  Gloucester  and  Middlesex,  so  that 
the  vessels  riding  in  Mobjack  Bay  and  in  Rappahannock 
River,  and  also  the  people  of  the  two  counties  them- 
selves, might  be  placed  on  their  guard.  The  officers  of 
Gloucester  and  Middlesex  were,  in  their  turn,  to  send  a 
like  express  to  the  officers  of  Lancaster,  and  the 
officers  of  Lancaster  to  the  officers  of  Northumber- 
land, and  the  officers  of  Northumberland  to  those 
of  Westmoreland;  so  that  all  the  merchantmen 
anchored  in  the  waters  of  these  counties,  and  all  the 
inhabitants  as  well,  might  be  informed  of  a  possible 
descent.  Finally,  the  message  was  to  be  carried  across 
the  Potomac  and  delivered  to  Governor  Blackstone,  of 
Maryland,  to  enable  him  to  ensure  the  safety  of  the 
Province  and  of  all  the  vessels  trading  with  it.  Before 
the  end  of  three  days,  the  whole  area  of  country  from 
York  county  as  far  north  as  Annapolis  had  received  full 
warning  of  the  presence  of  the  pirate  vessels  anchored 
at  the  mouth  of  the  Chesapeake  Bay,  a  proof  of  the 
promptitude  shown  by  the  authorities  of  Virginia  when- 


Foreign  Invasion  :  Pirates  219 

ever  a  military  emergency  arose  requiring  a  general 
alarm  to  be  raised.  Nor  did  Nicholson  wait  until  the 
sea-captains  and  people  in  the  counties  situated  nearest 
to  Lynnhaven  Bay  on  the  south  side  of  the  James, 
should,  by  passing  report,  hear  of  the  danger  to  which 
they  were  exposed,  but  instead  directed  Colonels 
Miles  Cary  and  Lemuel  Mason  to  warn  all  the  merchant- 
men lying  in  the  Elizabeth  and  Nansemond  Rivers  to 
be  prepared  for  attack;  and  the  same  officers  were 
also  commanded  to  hold  the  militia  of  the  neighboring 
country  in  readiness  to  run  together  at  an  hour's  notice.1 

When  this  general  order  was  sent  off,  Nicholson 
was  stopping  at  Kikotan,  where  the  Shoreham,  which 
had  come  in  to  replenish  its  water  casks,  was  lying. 
On  Sunday,  April  28th,  a  merchantman  arrived  with 
the  not  unexpected  news  that  pirates  had  dropped 
anchor  in  Lynnhaven  Bay.  It  turned  out  that  there 
was  but  one  vessel,  which  was  named  by  the  buccaneers, 
probably  in  a  spirit  of  derision,  La  Paix.  This  ship  was 
of  two  hundred  tons  burthen,  with  a  length  of  eighty- 
four  feet  by  the  keel  and  twenty-five  by  the  beam ;  and 
with  a  depth  of  eleven  feet  in  the  hold.  The  decks 
consisted  of  a  flight  deck  fore  and  aft,  a  half  deck  near 
one  of  the  masts,  and  a  forecastle.  She  was  armed 
with  twenty  iron  guns  placed  on  her  main  deck,  and 
with  eight  placed  in  her  hold ;  and  she  carried  thirty- 
two  barrels  of  powder  in  her  magazine.  Her  crew, 
with  the  exception  of  the  pilot,  an  Englishman,  was 
made  up  entirely  of  foreigners. 

The  La  Paix,  which  had  formerly  belonged  to  citizens 
of  Holland,  had  been  engaged  in  transporting  salt  to 
Surinam,  and  in  the  course  of  one  of  these  voyages,  had 
been  captured  by  pirates,  who  had  turned  her  captain 

>  Letter  of  Nicholson,  B.  T.  Va.,  1700,  vol.  viii.,  Doct.  16. 


220  The  Military  System 

adrift  on  the  high  seas  in  a  long  boat.  Taking  posses- 
sion of  her  as  superior  to  their  own  vessel,  they  sailed 
towards  Carthagena.  On  their  way  to  that  place, 
they  seized  a  Dutch  brigantine,  but  released  her  after 
rifling  her  of  her  supply  of  provisions.  Meeting  a  third 
Dutch  ship,  armed  with  twelve  guns,  and  manned  by  a 
crew  of  thirty-two  sailors,  they  promptly  engaged  in  a 
battle  with  her,  and  having  succeeded  in  boarding  her 
and  forcing  her  to  strike  her  colors,  they  carried  off  all 
her  largest  cannon  as  well  as  seven  of  her  finest  seamen. 
They  now  turned  the  prow  of  their  vessel  towards 
Hayti  in  the  West  Indies.  As  they  approached  that 
island,  they  came  upon  a  sloop,  which  they  stopped, 
but  released  as  soon  as  they  had  taken  from  her  two 
artisans  belonging  to  her  crew.  A  short  time  after- 
wards, they  captured  a  Dutch  vessel  loaded  with  a 
cargo  of  linen,  a  part  of  which  they  appropriated,  and 
then  permitted  her  also  to  escape.  In  a  few  days,  the 
La  Paix  was  joined  by  a  second  pirate  ship  armed  with 
sixteen  guns,  and  manned  by  a  crew  of  eighty.  A 
portion  of  this  crew  was  soon  transferred  to  the  La  Paix, 
and,  thus  strengthened,  she  was  able  to  capture  a  large 
merchantman,  whose  surgeon  was  forced  by  the  pirates, 
in  violent  opposition  to  his  own  wishes,  to  remain  with 
them  when  they  allowed  the  merchantman  to  set  sail 
again.  By  the  time  the  La  Paix  had  arrived  off  the 
coast  of  Hayti,  her  crew  had  increased  in  number  to  one 
hundred  and  twenty-five  outlaws.  Without  lingering 
in  those  waters,  they  made  their  way  toward  the  Florida 
Keys,  where  they  soon  succeeded  in  capturing  a  sloop 
belonging  to  Boston;  but  as  she  carried  no  cargo,  and 
had  on  board  only  a  small  amount  of  money,  they  per- 
mitted her  to  continue  on  her  voyage.  In  a  few  days, 
they  sighted  the  pink  Baltimore  bound  for  Barbadoes; 


Foreign  Invasion  :  Pirates  221 

stopping  her,  they  transferred  to  her  decks  twenty  of 
their  own  men,  who  received  orders  to  follow  in  the 
wake  of  the  La  Paix  towards  the  Capes  of  Virginia. 
Meeting  a  brigantine,  they  set  out  in  pursuit  of  her, 
but  rinding  it  difficult  to  overtake  her,  the  La  Paix 
turned  back,  but  the  Baltimore  pressed  on  until  both 
vessels  sank  below  the  horizon.  Before  reaching  the 
Capes,  the  La  Paix  overhauled  the  Pennsylvania,  a 
merchantman,  and  fearing  lest  her  officers,  if  allowed  to 
continue  their  voyage  to  Virginia,  would  inform  the 
guard-ship  of  the  pirates*  approach,  they  deliberately 
set  her  on  fire,  and  burned  her  to  the  water's  edge.  On 
the  day  before  entering  the  Chesapeake,  they  succeeded 
in  capturing  two  large  vessels.1 

Such  was  the  history  of  the  vessel  which  Captain 
Passenger  was  informed  was  riding  in  Lynnhaven  Bay. 
Immediately  on  receiving  this  news,  he  sent  a  messenger 
after  his  men  who  had  gone  ashore,  and  at  the  same  time 
signalled  to  the  merchantmen  bound  out  of  the  Capes 
that  he  needed  seven  more  to  complete  the  full  comple- 
ment of  his  crew.  Having  in  this  manner  secured  the 
number  he  required,  he  spread  sail,  but  night  falling 
before  Lynnhaven  Bay  was  reached,  his  pilot  refused  to 
go  any  further  until  the  next  day,  either  because  the 
navigation  was  dangerous  in  the  darkness,  or  because 
the  pirates  might  be  able  to  attack  the  ship  at  a  dis- 
advantage. Anchor  was  dropped  when  the  Shoreham 
arrived  within  three  leagues  of  the  buccaneers.  While 
she  was  lying  here,  Governor  Nicholson,  Peter  Heyman, 
the  collector  of  the  Lower  James  River  district,  and 
Captain  Aldred,  of  the  Essex  Prize,  came  aboard  in 

1  For  these  details  relating  to  the  history  of  the  La  Paix,  see  testi- 
mony of  its  captain  in  the  trial  that  took  place  at  Elizabeth  City; 
B.T.Va.,  1700,  vol.  Hi.;  also  B.  T.  Va.,  vol.  viii.,  Docts.  13,  15. 


222  The  Military  System 

expectation  of  taking  part  in  the  approaching  combat. 
At  three  o'clock  in  the  morning  (April  29th),  Captain 
Passenger,  who  had  probably  grown  too  impatient  to 
wait  any  longer,  weighed  anchor,  and  an  hour  later, 
when  dawn  had  hardly  begun  to  show  itself,  he  came 
up  with  the  outlaws.  As  soon  as  the  Shoreham  had 
approached  as  near  as  a  half  mile,  the  commander  of  the 
pirate  ship  let  loose  his  topsails  with  the  intention  of 
running  to  the  windward  of  the  opposing  vessel  so  as 
to  be  able  to  board  her  the  more  successfully,  but 
Captain  Passenger,  observing  his  purpose,  persistently 
kept  to  the  windward  himself,  and  at  the  first  favorable 
opportunity  fired  a  shot  at  his  adversary.  Immediately, 
the  pirate  ship  ran  up  to  her  masthead  a  jack  ensign 
with  a  red  pennant.  It  was  now  five  o'clock  in  the 
morning,  day  had  broken,  and  the  battle  began  in 
earnest;  and  it  continued  until  three  in  the  afternoon. 
Throughout  this  interval  of  ten  hours,  the  two  vessels 
remained  within  a  pistol  shot  of  each  other.  Again 
and  again,  the  captain  of  the  pirates  sought  to  get  to 
the  windward  of  the  Shoreham,  but  in  vain;  during  all 
this  time,  his  vessel  was  receiving  broadside  after 
broadside,  until  finally  her  masts,  yards,  sails,  and 
rigging  were  shot  away,  several  of  her  guns  were  un- 
mounted, and  her  hull  rent  and  splintered.  Not  being 
able  to  stand  up  against  the  storm  of  shot,  the  crew 
took  refuge  in  the  hold  and  the  ship  being  left  without 
any  guidance,  drifted  toward  the  shore,  and  at 
last  ran  aground.  In  this  predicament,  the  pirates 
lowered  their  ensign,  and  the  Shoreham  ceased  firing. 
In  a  short  time,  they  sent  several  of  their  English 
prisoners  on  board  to  inform  Captain  Passenger  that, 
unless  he  should  give  some  assurance  of  quarter,  they 
would  blow  up  their  ship,  and  that  a  train  of  thirty 


Foreign  Invasion :  Pirates  223 

barrels  of  powder  had  already  been  laid  for  the  purpose. 
Thinking  that  the  buccaneers  were  desperate  enough  to 
destroy  both  themselves  and  their  prisoners  in  this 
manner,  Nicholson  wrote  a  letter  to  their  captain  in- 
forming him  that,  should  they  surrender  quietly,  he 
would  refer  their  case  to  the  royal  mercy,  with  a 
recommendation  of  lenient  treatment.1  The  only 
person  on  board  of  the  Shoreham  who  perished  in  the 
right  was  Peter  Heyman,  who,  as  we  have  seen,  was 
serving  as  a  volunteer.2 

The  band  of  pirates  captured  when  the  La  Paix 
surrendered  numbered  one  hundred  and  ten  men,  who 
were  at  once  taken  to  Kikotan,  and  there  put  under 
guard.  The  victual  needed  for  their  support  during 
their  stay  there,  which  seems  to  have  been  supplied  by 
Col. William  Byrd  and  Edmund  Jennings,  consisted  of 
ten  barrels  of  pork,  twelve  barrels  of  beef,  and  sixty 
bushels  of  peas.  As  the  clothing  of  many  of  the 
prisoners  was  soon  worn  to  rags,  the  sails  of  the  ship 
were  given  to  them  to  furnish  material  with  which  to 
make  the  garments  required.  Eight  died  during  their 
short  confinement  at  Kikotan.  Ninety-nine  of  the 
survivors  were  finally  placed  on  board  of  the  fleet  of 

»  Report  of  Captain  Passenger,  B.  T.  Va.,  vol.  viii.,  p.  393. 
During  the  progress  of  the  battle,  one  of  the  pirates  came  down 
into  the  hold  of  his  ship,  where  there  were  forty  or  fifty  prisoners, 
and  when  some  one  among  them  asked  him  how  the  fight  was  going, 
he  replied:  "Damn  her,  she  is  but  a  little  toad,  no  bigger  than  we 
are.     We  shall  have  her  presently. " 

2  Minutes  of  Council,  May  6,  1700,  B.  T.  Va.,  vol.  liii.  Nicholson 
was  warmly  congratulated  on  the  active  part  which  he  had  taken 
in  the  fight;  see  letter  of  Governor  Blackstone  of  Maryland,  May 
15,  1700,  B  T.  Va.,  vol.  viii.  In  June,  Nicholson  was  again  found 
on  board  of  the  Shoreham,  which  at  this  time  was  cruising  outside 
of  the  Capes  in  hourly  expectation  of  sighting  pirate  vessels;  see 
letter  of  Nicholson  in  B.  T.  Va.,  1700,  vol.  viii.  This  letter  was 
dated  June  10,  1700. 


224  The  Military  System 

merchantmen,  which  soon  set  out,  under  the  convoy  of 
the  Essex  Prize,  and  they  were  thus  carried  to  England 
for  trial.  During  the  voyage,  their  hands  were  shackled 
and  they  were  kept  in  awe  by  a  constant  display  of 
small  arms.  In  one  vessel  alone,  so  large  a  company 
as  thirty  were  transported;  but  this  was  done  in  the 
guard-ship  only,  because  manned  by  too  strong  a  force 
for  even  this  number  of  outlaws  to  indulge  the  hope  of 
a  successful  attack,  especially  when  they  were  in  irons 
and  under  the  vigilant  eye  of  suspicious  sentinels.  A 
general  order  was  given  to  the  captains  of  the  merchant- 
men that,  should  they  arrive  in  England  along  with  the 
Essex  Prize,  they  were  to  deliver  their  prisoners  to  the 
commander  of  that  vessel.  Should  storms  however  sep- 
arate them  from  their  convoy,  they  were,  on  reaching 
the  Mother  Country,  to  turn  the  pirates  in  their  keeping 
over  to  the  mayor  of  the  town  where  their  voyage  ended ; 
and  if  that  town  happened  to  be  London,  then  to  such 
officers  as  the  Lords  of  the  Admiralty  should  designate.1 
Three  of  the  pirates,  whose  conduct  was  considered 
to  have  been  peculiarly  heinous,  were  detained  at  Eliza- 
beth City  for  trial  by  the  admiralty  court  which  was 
soon  summoned  to  convene  there  to  investigate  the 
charges  brought  against  them.  They  were  all  con- 
demned to  be  hanged.  Before  the  day  chosen  for  their 
execution  arrived,  they  escaped,  but  were  captured 
when  they  had  only  succeeded  in  getting  as  far  away  as 
the  Eastern  Shore.  They  were  sent  back  to  the  prison 
of  Princess  Anne  county,  where  they  had  previously 
been  confined,  and  here  in  the  end  they  paid  the  penalty 
of  their  long  career  of  murder  and  robbery.2     The 

*  Minutes  of  Council,  May  23,  1700,  vol.  liii.;  June  8,  1700,  vol. 
viii. 

2  In  his  address  to  the  jury  in  the  trial  of  the  three  pirates, 


Foreign  Invasion  :  Pirates  225 

names  of  the  three  men  were  John  Houghing,  Cornelius 
Franc,  and  Francois  DeLaunay.  Houghing  was  born 
in  New  York  of  Dutch  parentage,  was  thirty  years  of 
age,  and  spoke  the  English  and  Dutch  tongues  with 
equal  facility.  He  was  described  as  possessing  a  stout 
figure,  a  thick  neck,  round  face,  ruddy  complexion, 
and  short  curly  hair.  Franc,  like  Houghing,  was  of 
Dutch  descent.  He  was  even  more  accomplished  as  a 
linguist;  when  captured,  he  exclaimed  with  great 
bitterness:  "Must  I  be  hanged  that  can  speak  all 
languages?"  and  so  valuable  on  this  account  was  he 
considered  to  be  by  the  captain  of  the  pirates  that  the 
latter  declared  he  would  "  not  have  parted  with  him 
for  one  hundred  pounds  sterling."  Franc  had  reached 
middle  age.     DeLaunay,  as  his  name  plainly  showed, 

Edmund  Jennings,  who  prosecuted  them,  said:  "Pyracy  is  the 
worst  of  crimes  and  Pyrates  the  worst  of  men.  Nay,  by  these 
base  actions,  they  degrade  themselves  below  the  rank  of  men  and 
become  beasts  of  prey,  and  are  worse  than  the  worst  of  enemys, 
for  they  are  governed  by  no  laws  of  nations  or  of  armes ;  they  never 
give  quarter  or  show  mercy  but  as  they  please  themselves,  live 
by  rapine  and  violence,  declare  no  warr  and  yet  are  enemys  of 
all  mankind;  they  violate  all  the  lawes  of  God  and  Man  without 
any  remorse  or  Regrett;  they  love  mischief  for  mischief's  sake,  and 
will  do  what  mischief  they  can,  though  it  bring  no  advantage  to 
themselves";  B.  T.  Va.,  1700,  vol.  lii. 

»  B.  T.  Va.,  vol.  Hi.,  pp.  56,  60;  B.  T.  Va.,  1700,  vol.  viii.,  Doct. 
16.  The  following  is  a  description  of  the  pirates  who  in  1699  cap- 
tured the  Adventure  of  London,  and  who  were  suspected  of  lurking 
about  the  coasts  of  Virginia:  "John  Lloyd,  raw  boned,  very  pale 
complexion,  dark  hair,  remarkably  deformed  by  an  attraction  of 
the  lower  eyelid,  about  30  years  of  age;  Thomas  Hughes,  tall, 
lusty,  rawboned,  long  visage,  swarthy,  above  28  years  of  age; 
Thomas  Simpson,  short  and  small,  much  squint-eyed;  James 
Vanner,  short,  very  well  set,  fresh  colored,  pock  marked,  about 
twenty  years  of  age;  Lee  Wetherby,  short,  very  small,  black,  blind 
of  one  eye,  about  eighteen  years  of  age;  Thomas  Jameson,  cooper, 
tall,  meagre,  sickly  complexion,  large  black  eyes,  about  thirty  years 
of  age;  William  Griffith,  short,  well  set,  broad  faced,  darkish  hair, 

vol.  11 — 15 


226  The  Military  System 

was  a  Frenchman  in  blood,  but  was  far  more  ignorant 
than  his  two  unfortunate  fellows,  for  beside  his  native 
tongue,  he  had  only  a  small  smattering  of  English 
words.     He  also  had  passed  his  first  youth.1 

about  thirty  years  of  age;  Thomas  Davis,  short,  small,  sharp 
chinned,  reddish  hair,  about  two  and  twenty  years  of  age ;  Francis 
Reade,  short  and  small  reddish  hair,  about  eighteen  years  of  age; 
William  Saunders,  ordinary  stature,  well  sett,  pock  marked,  black 
hair,  about  fifteen  years  of  age";  B.  T.  Va.,  vol.  viii.,  Doct.  16. 
These  details  appear  in  a  proclamation  by  Nicholson. 


Part  V 
Political  Condition 


227 


CHAPTER  I 
Government  under  the  Charters 

THE  political  history  of  Virginia  during  the  Seven- 
teenth century  may  be  divided  into  at  least  nine 
periods,  some  longer,  some  shorter  than  the  others, 
but  each  different  in  character  from  the  rest.  First, 
there  is  the  period  extending  from  the  Colony's  founda- 
tion in  1607  to  the  grant  of  the  charter  in  1609,  the 
interval  when  a  purely  autocratic  government,  repre- 
sented by  the  King  in  England  and  the  President  and 
Council  in  Virginia,  prevailed1;  secondly,  the  period 
beginning  with  the  grant  of  the  charter  of  1609  and 
ending  in  16 19,  the  interval  when  martial  law  was 
enforced;  thirdly,  the  period  lasting  from  1619  to  1624, 
when  the  Colony's  affairs  were  administered  in  England 
by  the  wisest  and  most  patriotic  statesmen  of  that  day, 
and  in  Virginia,  by  a  General  Assembly,  elected  in  its 
most  important  branch  by  the  people,  and  animated 
by  a  desire  to  carry  out  the  principles  embodied  in  the 
Instructions  of  16 18,  and  the  Constitution  of  162 1; 
fourthly,  the  period  extending  from  1624,  the  date  of 
the  revocation  of  the  letters-patent,  to  165 1,  during 
which  time  the  Colony  remained  subject,  not  to  a  com- 
pany as  formerly,  but  to  the  Crown  itself,  whilst  the 
people  continued  to  have  a  voice  in  the  choice  of  their 

1  See  Rolfe's  description  in  Brown's  Genesis  of  the  United  States, 
vol.  i.,  p.  206. 

229 


230  Political  Condition 

rulers  by  the  election  of  Burgesses;  fifthly,  the  period 
lasting  from  165 1  to  1660,  the  interval  of  the  Protec- 
torate, when  all  the  political  power  being  virtually, 
centred  in  the  Lower  House  of  the  General  Assembly, 
a  higher  degree  of  popular  freedom  prevailed  than  had, 
for  many  years,  been  observed  in  Virginia ;  sixthly,  the 
period  extending  from  about  1661  to  1676,  during  the 
greater  part  of  which  time,  the  Long  Assembly  remain- 
ing undissolved,  the  reactionary  influences  at  work 
in  England  were  reflected  in  every  department  of  the 
colonial  government,  to  the  serious  detriment  of  the 
inhabitants'  rights  and  liberties;  seventhly,  the  period 
of  1676,  when  Berkeley's  power  had  been  overthrown, 
and  the  affairs  of  Virginia  were  under  the  temporary 
control  of  Bacon  and  those  who  sympathized  with  his 
purposes;  eighthly,  the  period  lasting  from  1677  to 
1688,  an  interval  during  which  the  ills  growing  out  of 
the  licentious  exercise  of  the  royal  prerogative  in  Eng- 
land by  Charles  II  and  James  II  were,  in  a  modified 
form,  repeated  in  the  Colony  by  Culpeper  and  Howard  as 
representatives  of  the  royal  authority;  and  finally,  the 
period  beginning  in  1688,  the  year  of  the  Revolution  in 
England,  and  continuing  during  the  remainder  of  the 
century,  an  interval  when  the  enlightened  and  rational 
spirit  characteristic  of  the  period  between  16 19  and  1624 
again  animated  the  local  government. 

The  first  charter,  granted  in  1606  for  the  establish- 
ment of  a  colony  in  Virginia  and  the  administration  of 
its  affairs,  laid  down  two  principles  which  have  had 
an  important  influence  in  shaping  the  history  of  the 
colonial  empire  of  Great  Britain,  and  indirectly  the 
history  of  Great  Britain  itself:  first,  the  Colony  was 
to  be  under  the  immediate  control  of  the  Crown,  and 
not  of  the  Crown  and  Parliament  together,  as  was  the 


Government  under  the  Charters       231 

case  with  England  itself;  secondly,  the  King's  subjects 
residing  in  Virginia,  whether  they  had  emigrated  thither 
or  been  born  there,  were  to  enjoy  all  the  "liberties, 
franchises,  and  immunities  within  any  of  the  royal 
dominions' '  just  as  if  they  had  first  seen  the  light  in  the 
Mother  Country  itself. 

The  letters-patent  of  1606  declared  that  the  reigning 
King,  whoever  he  might  be,  would  from  time  to  time 
"ordain  and  give"  such  additional  instructions,  laws, 
and  constitutions  as  should  seem  necessary  to  ensure 
a  more  fruitful  and  beneficent  rule.  This  clause  in  so 
many  words  bestowed,  not  only  on  the  monarch  then 
living,  but  also  on  his  heirs  and  successors,  the  exclusive 
right  to  govern  the  new  colony  unless  they  should  see 
fit  to  delegate  that  power  to  others.  When,  at  a  later 
date,  a  petition  was  presented  by  the  London  Company 
to  Parliament  touching  the  affairs  of  Virginia,  and  a 
committee  was  appointed  to  consider  it,  the  King  sent 
a  special  message  to  Parliament  expressly  forbidding  it 
to  intervene,  on  the  ground  that  it  was  without  juris- 
diction in  such  matters,  since  that  jurisdiction  belonged 
to  himself  alone.  This  principle  he  successfully  main- 
tained; and  when,  in  the  following  century,  the  same 
body  sought  to  enforce  in  America  certain  revenue  Acts 
passed  without  the  consent  or  participation  of  the 
American  people,  the  latter,  remembering  that  princi- 
ple, justly  claimed  that,  by  the  original  charters,  they 
were  subject  to  the  royal  authority  alone.  The  memora- 
ble resolutions  offered  by  Patrick  Henry  in  the  House  of 
Burgesses  in  May,  1765,  denying  the  right  of  Parliament 
to  exercise  any  form  of  control  over  the  Colonies, 
merely  expressed  the  general  principle  laid  down  an 
hundred  and  fifty-nine  years  before  by  James  I,  and 
silently   assented   to    by  Parliament   itself,  until   the 


232  Political  Condition 

overthrow  of  the  Monarchy  by  Cromwell  and  his  fol- 
lowers gave  that  body  for  the  first  time  the  power  to 
carry  out  its  own  wishes  in  the  administration  of 
colonial  affairs.  When  the  agitation  that  culminated 
in  the  Revolutionary  War  began,  Parliament,  refusing 
to  listen  to  the  Americans'  protest,  put  forward  the 
specious  claim  that  all  classes  in  the  Colonies  as  well 
as  in  the  Mother  Country  itself  were  represented  in  its 
membership,  and  were,  therefore,  subject  to  the  opera- 
tion of  its  Acts.  This  was  a  claim  which  the  Americans 
declined  to  acknowledge;  and  they  were  historically 
justified  in  doing  so  by  the  general  principle  embodied 
in  the  earliest  of  all  the  charters.  By  the  determined 
spirit  which  they  showed  before  hostilities  began,  and 
by  their  successful  maintenance  of  their  position  by 
force  of  arms,  they  caused  the  English  Government,  in 
its  subsequent  relations  with  its  remaining  colonies, 
to  return  to  that  principle  as  universally  accepted 
previous  to  the  establishment  of  the  Protectorate.  All 
the  large  English  colonies  are  now  great  self-governing 
communities;  and  apart  from  the  tie  of  a  common 
ancestry,  the  one  powerful  bond  uniting  them  to 
England  is,  not  a  loyal  subservience  to  Parliament,  as 
that  body  would  have  had  it  a  century  and  a  half  ago, 
but  personal  loyalty  to  the  British  Sovereign,  the  limit 
of  colonial  dependence  as  proclaimed  by  all  the  Revo- 
lutionary patriots  on  the  authority  of  James  I  when  he 
granted  the  charter  of  1606  to  the  London  Company. 
Had  the  remonstrances  of  Franklin,  Henry,  and  their 
fellows  been  listened  to,  the  King  of  England  to-day 
would  be  the  political  ligament  which  would  be  uniting 
to  the  Mother  Country  the  entire  body  of  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  peoples,  instead  of  those  peoples  being  di- 
vided into  two  great  nationalities,  a  fact  which  has 


Government  under  the  Charters       233 

diminished  their  power  and  lessened  their  influence 
among  mankind. 

When  it  was  provided  in  the  charter  of  1606  that 
every  citizen  of  Virginia  should  enjoy  "the  liberties, 
franchises,  and  immunities "  of  one  born  in  England, 
the  first  step  was  taken  towards  the  introduction  into 
the  projected  colony  of  all  the  free  institutions  so  long 
planted  in  the  Mother  Country  itself.  Had  the  govern- 
ment of  that  colony  remained,  during  the  whole  course 
of  these  early  years,  in  the  exclusive  control  of  the  King 
himself,  instead  of  being,  in  1609,  delegated  to  a  com- 
pany, this  clause  would  sooner  or  later  have  assured, 
among  other  privileges,  that  of  local  representation, 
which,  as  we  will  see,  was  granted  by  the  Company 
itself  nine  years  after  it  had  received  its  second  charter. 
As  the  wealth  of  the  new  country  increased  and  its 
population  expanded,  the  right  of  summoning  a  popular 
assembly  would,  in  time,  have  been  exercised  as  coming 
within  the  scope  of  those  general  rights  of  all  English 
subjects  guaranteed  by  the  first  charter  to  the  inhabi- 
tants of  Virginia.  Whether  the  Colony  was  ruled 
directly  by  the  King  or  a  company,  such  a  consumma- 
tion was  inevitable.  In  those  momentous  words  of  the 
first  charter,  there  lay  the  real  authority  for  calling 
together  the  earliest  legislative  assembly  to  convene 
on  the  American  Continent  among  the  English-speaking 
peoples ;  they  were  broad  enough  to  receive  so  liberal  an 
interpretation ;  and  advantage  was  taken  of  this  fact 
so  soon  as  the  condition  of  Virginia  justified  it.  Pro- 
foundly grateful  as  we  should  be  to  the  enlightened  men 
who  were  directing  the  London  Company  in  16 19, — 
the  year  the  first  Assembly  came  together, — neverthe- 
less it  should  be  remembered  that,  whether  intended  or 
not,  it  was  owing  to  James's  proclamation  in  the  first 


234  Political  Condition 

charter  of  the  memorable  principle  of  the  common 
rights  of  all  English  subjects,  whether  born  under 
English  skies,  or  on  the  remote  plantations  in  the  West, 
that  the  meeting  of  this  first  Assembly, — the  second 
great  event  in  the  history  of  English  Colonization, — 
was  made  possible.  It  is,  however,  not  probable  that 
this  timid  monarch  foresaw  the.  broad  interpretation 
which,  in  time,  would  be  placed  on  those  simple  words, 
and  the  extraordinary  results,  promotive  of  liberty  and 
freedom  in  two  hemispheres,  which  would  spring  from 
them.  His  claim  to  absolute  control  over  the  Colony's 
affairs,  which  he  successfully  maintained,  was  certainly 
not  based  entirely  on  an  ambition  to  rule  it  in  the  spirit 
of  a  beneficent  sovereign,  whose  single  object  was  to 
advance  the  moral  welfare  and  material  prosperity 
of  its  people.  Whatever  lofty  motives  may  have 
influenced  him  in  insisting  upon  his  exclusive  right, — 
if  a  motive  of  that  kind  influenced  him  at  all, — was 
deeply  colored  by  a  sordid  desire  to  increase  the  royal 
revenues,  all  the  more  highly  valued  because,  to  that 
extent,  he  would  be  rendered  independent  of  a  hated 
and  discontented  Parliament.  If  he  could  enforce  his 
claim  to  the  absolute  control  of  the  dominion  beyond 
sea,  then  all  the  duties  collected  on  the  products  of 
Virginia  imported  into  England  would  pass  into  the 
royal  treasury;  and  James  was  too  shrewd  not  to  per- 
ceive in  the  very  beginning  how  enormous  the  income 
from  this  source  might,  even  in  the  course  of  his  own 
reign,  become.  Though  he  himself  might  not  reap  the 
full  advantage  of  this  income,  his  heirs  would  un- 
doubtedly do  so,  and  thus  be  able  to  regard  with  com- 
parative indifference  a  House  of  Commons  equally 
niggard  and  defiant.1 

1  Down  to  the  reign  of  Queen  Mary,  the  imposition  by  the  King 


Government  under  the  Charters       235 

It  was  only  in  a  general  way  that  popular  rights  were, 
by  the  charter  of  1606,  guaranteed  to  the  citizens  of 
Virginia ;  none  was  specifically  mentioned ;  but  definite 
commercial  privileges  were  granted  by  that  charter,  as 
well  as  the  authority  to  carry  out  certain  practical  and 
political  arrangements.  For  instance,  the  colonists 
were,  during  a  stated  period,  to  be  exempt  from  the 
usual  customs;  and  when  that  period  had  come  to  an 
end,  the  duty  on  goods  imported  into  England  by  them 
was  not  to  exceed  five  per  cent,  of  the  value  of  the 
merchandise ;  they  were  to  be  allowed  to  transport  ad- 
venturers to  the  new  plantations ;  to  take  all  necessary 
steps  for  the  protection  of  the  settlements  against 
invasion ;  to  make  search  for  mines  of  precious  metals ; 
and  to  coin  money. 

Under  the  charter  of  1606,  the  Crown's  chief  agency 
in  governing  the  Colony  was  to  consist  of  a  council  of 
thirteen  persons  resident  in  England,  who  were  to  be 
nominated  and  appointed  by  the  King  himself,  and  to  be 
guided  in  all  their  proceedings  by  such  laws,  ordinances, 
and  instructions  as  he  should  give.  The  membership  of 
the  body  could,  at  any  time,  be  changed  by  the  royal 
will,   and   increased   or  diminished   should  that   will 

of  a  new  duty  on  imports  or  exports  without  the  consent  of  Parlia- 
ment was  illegal.  Both  Mary  and  Elizabeth,  however,  undertook 
to  dispense  with  this  consent.  The  question  of  the  Crown's  right 
to  do  this  came  up  in  court  in  1606  and  was  decided  in  the  Crown's 
favor.  The  question  was  reconsidered  in  Parliament  in  1610,  a 
compromise  then  proposed  came  to  nothing,  and  the  question  was 
left  open  to  produce  discord  in  the  course  of  the  next  generation. 
In  the  light  of  this  uncertain  status,  it  was  only  to  be  expected  that 
James  would  be  quick  to  claim  that  all  the  customs  from  the  Vir- 
ginian imports  belonged  to  him  alone  regardless  of  any  opposition 
on  the  part  of  Parliament.  The  general  rule  was  that  the  sovereign 
at  the  beginning  of  his  reign  received  for  life  from  Parliament  a 
grant  of  the  existing  port  duties. 


236  Political  Condition 

decide  it  to  be  advisable.  This  council  was  authorized 
to  name  a  second  council,  to  reside  in  Virginia,  with  a 
direct  control  over  the  administration  of  its  affairs,  but, 
like  the  parent  council,  subject  to  the  laws,  ordinances, 
and  instructions  laid  down  by  the  King,  of  which  they 
were  to  be  informed  as  ordained.  Each  member  of  the 
Council  of  Thirteen  in  England  was  required  to  take 
an  oath  that,  whenever  a  question  of  importance  or 
perplexity  should  arise,  he  would  join  with  his  associ- 
ates in  referring  it  to  the  consideration  of  the  Privy 
Council,  whose  decision  was  to  be  accepted  as  conclu- 
sive.1 About  twelve  months  after  the  grant  of  the 
first  charter,  the  membership  of  the  Council  residing  in 
England  was  increased  in  number  in  order  to  avoid  the 
delays  caused  by  the  remoteness  of  many  of  the  Council- 
lors' homes,  which  prevented  them  from  attending  the 
body's  sessions  with  regularity.  Having  been  thus 
enlarged,  an  assembly  composed  of  any  twelve  of  its 
members  was  authorized  to  nominate  officers;  to  adopt 
ordinances  and  laws;  and  to  execute  all  the  other 
powers  conferred  on  the  original  council.2 

Three  years  after  the  first  letters-patent  were  issued, 
two  of  the  practical  commercial  purposes  for  which 
the  Company  had  been  established  had  resulted  in 
disappointment,  namely,  the  expected  discovery  of 
gold  and  silver  in  the  soil  of  Virginia,  and  the  finding 
of  a  passage  through  its  territory  to  the  seas  washing 
the  eastern  shores  of  Asia.  All  the  other  commercial 
objects  in  view  in  the  beginning  remained  as  full 
of  promise  as  before;  but  it  had  now  been  shown  by 

»  Brown's  First  Republic,  p.  9;  Va.  Maga.  of  Hist,  and  Biog., 
vol.  vii.,  p.  39. 

2  Ordinance  Enlarging  Council,  Brown's  Genesis  of  the  United 
States,  vol.  i.,  p.  91. 


Government  under  the  Charters      237 

hard  experience  that  the  expense  entailed  by  so  great 
an  action  was  far  heavier  than  a  few  incorporators  could 
meet  without  leading  to  their  total  ruin.  If  all  the 
ends  considered  in  forming  the  original  company  were 
to  be  carried  out  successfully,  then  a  larger  sum  had 
to  be  furnished;  and  this  could  only  be  obtained  by  the 
creation  of  what  would  be  substantially  a  new  company 
composed  of  as  many  and  as  wealthy  members  as  could 
be  induced  to  subscribe  to  the  stock. 

How  far  did  political  reasons  facilitate  the  rapid 
formation  of  the  new  band  of  incorporators,  to  whom, 
in  1609,  the  second  charter  was  granted?  Apart  from 
the  commercial  expectations  bound  up  in  the  enterprise, 
it  is  doubtful  whether  political  hopes  would  have 
influenced  many  persons  to  venture  their  money  upon 
the  issue  of  its  success.  It  is  true  that,  among  the  new 
incorporators,  were  a  number  of  men  who,  at  a  later 
date,  openly  sought  to  use  the  Company  to  advance  the 
great  cause  of  civil  liberty  involved  in  the  prolonged 
struggle  with  James.  It  is  not  improbable  that  such  a 
thoughtful  and  far-sighted  man  as  Sandys,1  for  instance, 
was  drawn  into  the  enterprise  in  a  measure  by  the 
anticipation  that,  in  time,  the  Colony  would  furnish  a 
freer  atmosphere  for  Englishmen  than  England  itself 
promised  to  afford  under  such  a  dynasty  as  the  Stuarts ; 
but  he,  and  those  who  looked  forward  to  the  like,  must 
also  have  recalled  the  fact  that  the  more  prosperous 
and  populous  that  Colony  became,  the  larger  would  be 
the  volume  of  coin  which  would  pour  into  the  royal 
coffers  from  the  collection  of  imports  on  the  colonial 
products,  and  the  less  dependent  would  the  monarch 
be  on  the  grants  of  income  by  Parliament,  a  fact  which, 

»  The  petition  for  the  second  charter  was  drawn  by  Sir  Edwin 
Sandys. 


238  Political  Condition 

on  account  of  the  arbitrary  and  pertinacious  traits  of 
the  Stuart  temper,  was  certain  to  lead  to  many  conse- 
quences dangerous  to  English  liberties.  It  was  known 
to  the  new  incorporators  that  Virginia  could  supply 
at  least  an  hundred  commodities  England  was  then 
forced  to  purchase  from  foreign  nations  at  a  very  high 
price  and  with  a  constant  prospect  of  interruption  by 
war;  above  all,  there  was,  even  at  this  early  period, 
ground  for  thinking  that  the  new  Colony  would  furnish 
the  Mother  Country  with  the  tobacco  then  imported 
from  the  Spanish  possessions  in  America  at  such  a  great 
profit  to  the  Spanish  planters  there.  It  was  this  substan- 
tial reason  on  which  to  base  the  expectation  of  personal 
gain  that  led  these  incorporators  to  subscribe  so  liberally ; 
and  the  political  motive  for  doing  so,  if  it  existed  at  all, 
as  may  very  properly  be  doubted,  burned  rather  faintly 
in  their  breasts  in  comparison  with  the  commercial. 

It  was  fully  understood  that  James,  in  granting  the 
charter  of  1606,  had  no  intention  of  assuming  any 
part  of  the  expense  that  would  arise  in  carrying  out 
the  projected  enterprise ;  nor  was  any  change  in  his 
attitude  in  this  respect  brought  about  by  the  practical 
demonstration  of  the  fact  that,  unless  a  large  sum  was 
obtained,  the  whole  scheme  of  colonization  would  end 
in  hopeless  disappointment.  His  unwillingness  to  con- 
tribute to  the  pecuniary  support  of  the  action  at  the 
hour  when  its  continuation  turned  upon  the  raising 
of  a  new  fund,  led  him,  in  granting  the  second  charter, 
to  offer  such  liberal  terms  that  subscribers  to  the  new 
stock  of  the  Company  would  spring  up  on  every  side. 
The  conversion  of  the  Colony  from  a  direct  dependance 
of  the  Crown  into  a  direct  dependance  of  a  joint-stock 
association  could  not  have  been  very  agreeable  to  him, 
but  such  a  step  was  more  desirable  than  either  sustain- 


Government  under  the  Charters       239 

ing  that  Colony  by  his  own  fortune,  or  allowing  it  to 
sink  into  total  and  final  ruin.  Though  he  had  delegated 
his  authority,  nevertheless  he  still  retained  the  assured 
prospect  of  a  large  increase  in  his  income  from  the 
customs  which,  in  time,  would  be  paid  on  the  products 
of  Virginia  imported  into  England.  The  greater  the 
inducements  which  he  could  offer  in  the  way  of  a  liberal 
charter  to  promote  a  generous  subscription  to  the  re- 
organized scheme,  the  more  certain  was  the  Colony  to 
grow  in  wealth  and  population,  and  the  more  valuable 
to  the  royal  treasury  would  it  become. 

But  James's  niggardness  was  not  the  only  influence 
leading  him  to  transfer  the  immediate  sovereignty  of 
the  Colony  to  the  London  Company.  Perhaps,  the 
one  characteristic  which  shaped  his  political  actions 
more  than  any  other  was  timidity.  By  1609,  no  doubt 
was  felt  that  Spain  looked  upon  the  settlement  at 
Jamestown  with  great  hostility;  in  many  ways,  she  had 
shown  her  strong  opposition  to  it ;  and  there  was  reason 
to  think  that  this  opposition  might,  at  any  time, 
assume  an  overt  aggressive  form  which  would  bring 
down  upon  the  Englishmen  in  Virginia  the  same  fate 
as  had  overtaken  the  French  Huguenots  in  Florida 
through  the  same  instrumentality.  Now,  it  was  the 
fixed  policy  of  this  shrinking  monarch  to  avoid  if 
possible  all  occasion  of  giving  offence  to  the  Spanish 
Power;  by  transferring  the  government  of  Virginia  to 
the  London  Company  under  the  provisions  of  a  liberal 
charter,  which  made  that  company  the  virtual  sovereign 
of  the  country,  though  still  subject  to  his  supremacy, 
he  placed  himself  in  a  position  to  disclaim  or  accept 
responsibility  for  its  acts  just  as  his  interests  or  his  fears 
might  dictate.  If  the  Company's  rule  was  successful 
and  prosperous,  it  might  be  proclaimed  that  the  acts 


240  Political  Condition 

of  that  body  were  the  acts  of  the  King's  loyal  subjects; 
but,  on  the  other  hand,  if  its  rule  was  marked  by  no 
good  fortune  and  closed  in  disaster,  it  could  be  said, 
without  danger  of  contradiction,  that  the  enterprise 
had  been  that  of  a  number  of  private  gentlemen  pro- 
ceeding on  their  own  personal  liability;  and  in  their 
failure,  or  their  destruction  by  a  hostile  nation,  the 
English  state  had  suffered  no  loss,  and  been  subjected 
to  neither  disappointment  nor  humiliation. 

An  examination  of  the  charter  of  1609  will  show  that 
the  rights  and  powers  granted  by  that  instrument  were 
much  broader  in  their  scope  than  those  granted  by  the 
charter  of  1606.  In  a  general  way,  the  Treasurer  and 
Company  of  Adventurers,  and  such  officers  as  they 
might  appoint  were  authorized  "to  correct,  punish, 
pardon,  govern,  and  rule"  all  the  people  who  should 
remove  to  Virginia  with  the  view  of  settling  there 
permanently;  or  who  should  be  born  on  its  soil  and 
remain  there;  and  the  tranquillity  of  the  community 
was  to  be  upheld  and  all  its  affairs  administered  in 
conformity  with  such  "orders,  ordinances,  constitu- 
tions, directions,  and  instructions,"  as  should,  from 
time  to  time,  be  adopted  by  the  Company's  Council 
in  England.  In  those  cases  not  touched  by  any  law 
as  yet  passed,  the  Governor  and  his  Council  in  Virginia 
were  to  act  according  to  the  dictates  of  their  own  dis- 
cretion and  judgment.  There  was  one  general  regula- 
tion which  all  the  statutes,  rules,  and  proceedings  of 
the  Company  and  its  agents  must  accord  with  as  nearly 
as  convenience  should  permit,  namely,  they  must  not 
be  in  conflict  with  the  "laws,  government,  and  policy" 
of  the  Mother  Country.  Under  this  charter,  as  will  be 
seen,  the  King  delegated  the  right  (which  had  formed 
the  most  conspicuous  feature  of  the  first  charter)  of 


Government  under  the  Charters       241 

himself  to  draw  up  all  the  orders,  instructions,  and 
constitutions  for  the  administration  of  the  Colony's 
affairs.  His  whole  power  in  this  respect  was  trans- 
ferred to  the  Company.1 

The  London  Company r  as  reorganized  in  1609,  was 
composed  of  six  hundred  and  fifty-nine  persons;  and  of 
this  number,  twenty-one  were  peers  of  the  realm ;  ninety- 
six,  knights;  eleven,  professional  men;  fifty-three,  cap- 
tains ;  twenty-eight,  esquires ;  fifty-eight,  gentlemen ;  and 
one  hundred  and  tenr  merchants;  and  the  remaining 
two  hundred  and  eighty-two,  citizens  entitled  to.no 
special  classification.  About  fifty  of  their  whole  num- 
ber held  seats  in  Parliament,  and  at  least  fifty  more 
had,  at  some  previous  time,  enjoyed  that  honorable 
distinction.2  It  is  doubtful  whether  in  that  age,  the 
kingdom  could  have  furnished  a  body  more  representa- 
tive of  all  thal^was  best  and  highest  in  its  various  walks 
of  life  than  trie  men  enrolled  as  incorporators  under  this 
charter.  The  Council  residing  in  England  was  com- 
posed of  fifty-two  members,  fourteen  of  whom  belonged 
to  the  House  of  Lords  and  thirty  to  the  House  of 
Commons.  It  was  provided  that  the  Company's  busi- 
ness could  be  legally  transacted  at  any  meeting  of  the 
stockholders  attended  by  five  Councillors  and  fifteen  of 
the  generality;  and  these  meetings  were  to  take  place 
at  least  four  times  in  the  course  of  the  year  at  regular 
intervals  corresponding  to  the  seasons  of  spring,  summer, 
autumn,  and  winter;  for  which  reason  they  were  de- 
signated as  "  quarter  courts."  It  was  in  these  quarter 
courts  that  all  laws  for  the  Colony's  government  were 
passed,  and  all  officers  for  the  active  administration 
of  its  affairs  chosen. 

J  Charter  of  1609,  Brown's  Genesis  of  the  United  States,  vol.  i.,  p. 
235.  2  Ibid.,  p.  228. 

VOL.  11-16. 


CHAPTER  II 
Government  under  the  Charters  (Continued) 

THE  London  Company  as  reorganized  was  designed 
to  be  a  perpetual  corporation,  and  as  such  received 
a  grant  of  a  vast  territory,  which  it  was  im- 
powered  to  settle  with  people  drawn  from  England,  or 
from  lands  at  peace  and  in  comity  with  that  kingdom. 
Some  years  passed  before  the  objects  the  Company 
sought  to  promote  became  more  or  less  involved  in  the 
political  hopes  for  the  Mother  Country  entertained  by 
a  section  of  its  members.  The  head  of  the  organization 
was  Sir  Thomas  Smythe,  one  of  the  most  opulent  and 
influential  merchants  of  London,  a  man  sagacious 
enough  to  perceive  that  the  condition  of  the  Company's 
continued  existence  was  success  from  a  purely  com- 
mercial point  of  view.  Until  the  close  of  Argoll's 
administration  in  1617,  there  is  no  substantial  reason 
to  think  that  the  Colony  was  looked  upon  by  any 
English  party,  or  any  section  of  the  English  people,  as 
the  home  of  a  broader  freedom  than  any  English  sub- 
ject had  previously  enjoyed;  on  the  contrary,  from  Sir 
Thomas  Dale's  arrival  to  the  flight  of  Argoll,  Virginia 
was  governed  by  a  martial  code,  which,  however 
necessary  at  the  time,  was  radically  antagonistic  to  the 
spirit  of  English  law  and  English  civil  liberty.  John 
Bargrave  justly  accused  Sir  Thomas  Smythe  of  exercis- 
ing absolute  power  in  administering  the  affairs  of  both 

242 


Government  under  the  Charters       243 

the  Company  and  the  Colony;  of  depriving  the  settler 
of  all  reasonable  assurance  as  to  the  safety  of  his  estate 
or  the  preservation  of  his  freedom;  and  of  laying  the 
heavy  hand  of  oppression  on  the  single  planter  and 
large  associations  of  adventurers  alike.1 

When  the  period  agreed  upon  for  the  continuation  of 
the  joint  stock  came  to  an  end,  the  people  of  the  Colony, 
by  the  charter's  provisions,  received  separate  allot- 
ments of  land,  the  titles  to  which  were  invested  in 
them  alone.  It  was  necessary  that  a  termination 
should  now  be  put  to  the  operation  of  martial  law,  and 
that  a  new  system  of  legal  and  political  administration, 
following  the  precedent  of  that  prevailing  in  England, 
should  be  set  under  way.  Now  for  the  first  time,  the 
political  principles  in  which  so  many  members  of  the 
Company  were  interested  began  to  shape  the  proceed- 
ings of  that  body  in  its  quarter  courts,  and  to  color  the 
views  entertained  as  to  the  ulterior  political  advantages 
to  accrue  to  all  Englishmen  from  the  growth  of  the 
Colony  in  Virginia.  During  many  years,  a  struggle  had 
been  going  on  in  England  between  the  King,  firmly 
believing  in  his  Divine  Right,  and  a  powerful  section  of 
the  members  of  Parliament  as  to  the  extent  of  his 
prerogative ;  and  it  was  only  natural  that  men  like  Sir 
Edwin  Sandys,  bent  at  once  on  opposing  the  dangerous 
pretensions  of  the  bigoted  monarch,  and  on  advancing 
the  prosperity  of  the  plantation,  should  have  eagerly 
striven  to  protect  Virginia  from  the  consequences  of 
royal  tyranny,  and  thus  to  make  it  all  the  more  a  land 
where  Englishmen  might  find  the  civil  liberty  not  en- 
joyed at  home.  There  is  no  reason  to  question  the 
truth  of  Bargrave's  statement  that  Sandys  had  declared 
"  that  his  purpose  was  to  erect  a  free  popular  state,  in 

1  British  Colonial  Papers,  1622-23,  No.  7. 


244  Political  Condition 

which  the  inhabitants  should  have  no  government  put 
upon  them  but  by  their  owa  consent."1  He  had 
assisted  Bacon  in  drafting  the  memorable  remonstrance 
of  James's  first  House  of  Commons  against  this  mon- 
arch's conduct  towards  that  body.  In  1614,  the  King 
dissolved  his  third  Parliament,  and  during  a  period  of 
seven  years  strove  to  govern  the  realm  without  any 
legislative  assistance.  It  is  possible  that,  in  the  course 
of  this  gloomy  interval,  when  England  seemed  to  have 
sunk  under  the  feet  of  a  single  despotic  ruler,  even  far- 
seeing  men  began  to  despair  of  the  ultimate  result  of 
the  struggle  with  the  occupant  of  the  throne,  and 
looked  to  the  Colony  beyond  the  Atlantic  as  a  refuge 
from  tyranny  for  unborn  generations  of  Englishmen, 
and  the  home  of  free  institutions  for  centuries  to  come. 
It  was  a  natural  and  a  noble  view  to  take,  which  time 
was  to  realize  to  an  extent  not  anticipated  even  in 
their  most  exalted  moments  of  inspiration  and  prophecy 
by  that  band  of  patriots  and  statesmen  who,  after  16 18, 
administered  from  London  the  affairs  of  Virginia. 

Gondomar,  the  Spanish  Ambassador  in  England, 
became,  at  an  early  date  after  his  arrival,  convinced 
that  the  English  had  no  serious  intention  of  abandoning 
the  Colony.  More  and  more  deeply  impressed  with 
the  determined  spirit  of  the  London  Company,  he  used 
every  opportunity  to  sow  seeds  of  dissension  between 
that  body  and  the  King,  and  to  plant  thorns  of  dis- 
trust in  the  royal  mind.  He  warned  the  credulous 
monarch  that,  although  the  Company  might  put  forth 
a  fair  pretence  for  holding  the  quarter  courts,  yet  his 
majesty  would,  in  the  end,  find  that  these  courts  were 
but  a  "  seminary  for  a  seditious  Parliament.  "2     These 

1  Brown's  English  Politics  in  Early  Virginia  History,  p.  47. 

2  See  Life  of  Nicholas  Ferrer,  by  his  brother,  John  Ferrer. 


Government  under  the  Charters       245 

memorable  words  expressed  the  truth  with  extraordin- 
ary precision,  and  their  effect  on  James's  mind  was,  no 
doubt,  all  the  more  lasting  because  he  himself  had  been 
drawn  to  the  same  conclusion  by  his  own  independent 
observation.  After  Sir  Edwin  Sandys  became  Treasurer 
of  the  Company  in  16 19,  the  King,  though  he  had,  by 
the  charter  of  1609,  formally  delegated  his  powers, 
showed  an  ever-increasing  disposition  to  intermeddle 
with  its  affairs;  and  in  this,  he  was  influenced  by  two 
reasons,  which  revealed  the  general  bent  of  his  nature : 
first,  opposition  to  the  Company,  on  the  ground  of 
its  liberal  principles  in  the  sphere  of  English  political 
life ;  and  secondly,  a  desire  to  resume  his  original  auto- 
cratic control  of  the  Colony  now  that  it  had  proved  to 
be  successful,  and  no  extraordinary  pecuniary  outlay 
was  likely  to  be  necessary  on  its  account.  Appre- 
hension of  expense  and  fear  of  complications  with 
Spain, — a  combination  of  niggardness  and  timidity 
highly  characteristic  of  the  man, — had  alone  moved 
him  to  transfer  all  direct  power  over  Virginia  to  the 
Company  in  1609.  By  16 18,  it  was  clearly  perceived 
that,  should  the  Colony's  affairs  be  only  carefully  ad- 
ministered, it  would  soon  attain  to  a  great  prosperity 
at  no  additional  cost;  and  the  expectation  of  Spanish 
interference  by  arms  had  also  gradually  grown  less  in 
the  light  of  the  fact  that,  in  spite  of  warnings  and 
menaces,  Spain  had  been  guilty  of  no  overt  act  looking 
to  the  removal  or  destruction  of  the  settlers. 

Southampton,  Sandys,  and  Nicholas  Ferrer,  the 
leading  spirits  among  the  members  of  the  liberal  section 
of  the  London  Company,  were  three  of  the  most  re- 
markable men  of  that  age,  whether  we  consider  them 
from  the  point  of  view  of  eloquence,  knowledge,  virtue, 
integrity,   wisdom,   or  energy.     Sandys  occupied  the 


246  Political  Condition 

office  of  Treasurer  only  during  a  single  term  of  twelve 
months.  When  in  1620  with  a  great  show  of  approval 
he  was  proposed  for  re-election,  a  messenger  from  court 
announced  that  the  King  strongly  objected  to  his 
continuation  in  the  position.  Sandys,  wishing  to  avoid 
all  cause  of  difference  and  dissension,  refused  to  permit 
his  name  to  be  used.  Three  names  were  brought 
forward,  two  of  which  had  been  suggested  by  James 
himself.  When  the  poll  was  proclaimed,  it  was  found 
that  the  royal  nominees  had  received  only  a  few  votes, 
while  Southampton,  the  nominee  of  the  Company 
itself,  had  been  chosen  by  an  extraordinary  majority,  a 
proof  of  how  little  the  members  had  been  intimidated  or 
bent  by  the  royal  action ;  and  also  of  their  determina- 
tion to  offer  a  rebuke  to  that  action,  which  would  not 
soon  be  forgotten. 

Two  years  before  the  occurrence  of  this  remarkable 
scene,  the  Company  had  granted  to  the  people  of 
Virginia,  among  other  rights,  one  supreme  right,  which 
was  to  constitute  the  beginning  of  civil  liberty  in  the 
remote  West.  This  great  right,  which,  together  with 
the  rights  associated  with  it,  was  bestowed  for  the 
express  purpose  of  establishing  "  an  equal  and  uniform 
kind  of  government"  in  the  Colony,  was  embodied  in 
the  noble  series  of  instructions  ratified  at  the  quarter 
court  convening  November  28,  1618,  a  date  which 
should  be  among  the  most  celebrated  in  the  history  of 
the  English-speaking  race.  By  the  provisions  of  this 
epoch-making  document,  the  new  Governor,  Sir  George 
Yeardley,  was  authorized  to  call  together  a  General 
Assembly,  consisting  of  the  Governor  and  Council  of 
State,  and  two  Burgesses  chosen  by  popular  election 
from  the  body  of  the  inhabitants  of  each  town,  hundred, 
or  group  of  plantations.     It  was  noted  at  the  time  when 


Government  under  the  Charters       247 

this  right  of  representation  in  an  Assembly  of  their  own 
was  bestowed  on  the  people  of  Virginia  that  a  comet 
of  remarkable  brilliance  appeared  on  the  face  of  the 
heavens;  and  so  long  as  it  remained  visible  (and  it 
continued  to  be  seen  until  December  26th),  Yeardley 
deemed  it  inauspicious  to  set  sail  from  the  English 
shores.  The  Colony  at  that  stage  of  its  growth  was  too 
insignificant  to  be  associated  in  the  minds  of  English- 
men with  the  great  natural  phenomenon  which,  for  so 
many  weeks,  caused  such  widespread  awe  and  conster- 
nation; but  not  since  the  Reformation  had  any  event, 
with  the  exception  of  the  first  settlement  at  James- 
town itself,  occurred  in  the  history  of  the  English  people 
which,  in  far  reaching  consequences  of  incalculable 
importance,  deserved  better  to  be  heralded  by  some 
flaming  sign  in  the  dome  of  the  midnight  sky.  Perhaps, 
the  conjunction  was  noticed  by  those  thoughtful  men 
to  whom  the  Western  Continent  was  indebted  for  this 
guarantee  of  its  ultimate  freedom  and  independence; 
and  they  may  well  have  disregarded  the  superstition 
of  the  age  and  looked  upon  that  fiery  portent,  not  as  an 
indication  of  the  approach  of  some  malignant  change, 
but  of  a  change  which  was  to  confer  inestimable  bless- 
ings upon  mankind. 

Not  content  with  granting  the  right  to  call  an 
Assembly,  the  Company  two  years  later  took  steps  to 
have  codified  a  series  of  ordinances,  which,  from  some 
points  of  view,  bore  a  close  resemblance  to  a  written 
constitution.  In  April,  1620,  Sir  Edwin  Sandys  with- 
drew into  the  country  with  instructions  from  the 
previous  quarter  court  to  use  the  quiet  and  leisure  of 
his  retirement  to  go  over  the  body  of  the  English  laws, 
and  under  the  guidance  of  the  information  acquired 
from  this  and  other  sources,  to  frame  a  general  system 


248  Political  Condition 

of  rules  for  the  permanent  administration  of  the  Colony's 
affairs.1  The  object  of  this  set  of  regulations,  the  first 
draft  of  which  was  thus  prepared  by  one  of  the  most 
distinguished,  upright,  and  fearless  statesmen  of  that 
age,  and  afterwards  hammered  into  final  shape  by  the 
deliberations  of  various  committees,  was  declared  at  the 
time  to  be  to  settle  in  Virginia  "  such  a  form  of  govern- 
ment as  might  be  to  the  greatest  benefit  and  comfort  of 
the  people;  and  thereby  all  injustice,  grievances,  and 
oppression  might  be  prevented,  and  kept  off  as  much  as 
possible  from  the  Colony."2  During  the  first  two  cen- 
turies of  American  history,  there  was  only  one  other 
undertaking  of  the  same  general  kind  comparable  in 
spirit,  if  not  in  lasting  results,  with  this  successful  effort 
of  the  Company  to  supply  a  framework  of  written  laws 
for  the  preservation  of  an  ordered  government  in  Vir- 
ginia, the  protection  of  its  interests,  and  the  advance- 
ment of  its  general  prosperity, — this  was  the  drafting 
of  the  Federal  Constitution  by  the  fathers  of  the  Re- 
public, who  were  guided  by  the  same  extraordinary 
forecast,  inspired  by  the  same  liberality  of  opinion, 
and  animated  by  the  same  profound  devotion  to  their 
country. 

When  Wyatt,  the  successor  of  Governor  Yeardley, 

»  Abstracts  of  Proceedings  of  Va.  Co.  of  London,  vol.  i.,  p.  55. 
Governor  Yeardley  had  requested  for  his  "better  direction"  a 
code  of  general  regulations.  Committees  had  been  appointed  to 
frame  the  laws,  but  owing  to  press  of  business  had  been  unable  to 
do  so. 

2  These  words  are  quoted  from  the  Minutes  of  the  Company  in 
Brown's  English  Politics  in  Early  Virginia  History,  p.  40.  The 
General  Committees  appointed  July  17  th  were  impowered  to  select 
from  the  laws  of  England  such  as  were  suitable  for  adoption  in 
the  Colony.  They  were  also  to  examine  the  charters,  orders, 
instructions  to  Governors,  and  Acts  of  Assembly  for  the  same 
general  purpose;  see  p.  34. 


Government  under  the  Charters       249 

arrived  in  Virginia  in  October,  162 1,  he  brought  with 
him  a  model  scheme  of  government  which  had  been 
formulated  by  the  ablest  members  of  the  Company. 
Under  the  various  provisions  of  this  scheme,  the  Gov- 
ernor and  Council  of  State  were  to  be  appointed  by  that 
body;  the  General  Assembly,  composed  of  Governor, 
Council,  and  Burgesses,  was  to  be  called  together  at 
least  once  a  year;  each  town  or  settlement  was,  by  the 
suffrages  of  its  inhabitants,  to  choose  annually  two 
Burgesses;  the  Governor  was  to  possess  a  negative 
voice  in  the  framing  of  legislative  acts,  but  even  after 
he  had  given  his  approval,  no  law  was  to  become  final 
until  the  King's  assent  to  it  had  been  received.1  Such 
were  some  of  the  political  features  of  this  memorable 
ordinance. 

What  was  the  result  of  these  wise  and  liberal  mea- 
sures ?  At  a  time  when  Parliament  had  ceased  to  meet, 
in  consequence  of  the  King's  determination  to  rule  with- 
out allowing  that  body  an  opportunity  to  interfere,  the 
General  Assembly  of  Virginia  was  convening  annually 
in  conformity  with  the  written  laws  framed  by  the 
Company,  and  was  giving  a  full  voice  to  the  wishes, 
and  removing  by  wise  enactments  all  the  grievances, 
of  the  people.  At  a  time  when  England  seemed  to  be 
destined  to  become  a  monarchy  in  which  the  sovereign's 
caprice  or  judgment  was  to  be  the  final  expression  of  the 
law,  Virginia  was  governed  in  accord  with  the  require- 
ments of  a  code  only  to  be  violated  by  those  in  charge 
of  the  administration  of  affairs  at  the  risk  of  the  heaviest 
punishment.  Insignificant  in  wealth  and  population 
as  the  Colony  was  at  this  time,  and  remotely  situated 
from  the  Mother  Country,  the  political  contrast  pre- 
sented by  it,  while  controlled  by  a  body  of  far-sighted 

1  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  i.,  pp.  110-113. 


250  Political  Condition 

English  statesmen,  distinguished  for  their  opposition 
to  the  encroachments  of  the  royal  prerogative,  must 
have  deeply  impressed  the  minds  even  of  those  English- 
men who  took  no  part  in  that  resistance. 

No  one  understood  more  clearly  than  James  himself 
the  lessons  which  this  contrast  might  enforce  in  the 
future,  and  the  consequences  dangerous  to  the  power 
of  the  monarchy  which  it  might  precipitate.  There 
had  already  sprung  up  in  the  Company  a  small  but  very 
persistent  and  determined  faction,  who,  for  their  own 
purposes,  were  prepared  to  aggravate  the  King's  grow- 
ing hostility  to  the  corporation.  It  was  not  long  before 
James  took  the  first  step  towards  the  revocation  of  its 
charter;  this  consisted  of  appointing  a  set  of  Commis- 
sioners to  investigate  the  condition  of  the  Colony. 
The  first  results  of  their  inquiry  were  embodied  in  a 
report  delivered  to  the  Privy  Council  in  July,  1623,1 
and  as  was  to  be  expected  from  the  committee's  mem- 
bership, the  conclusions  reached  were  highly  unfavorable 
to  the  Company.  That  committee  could  hardly  have 
chosen  a  time  when  the  community's  affairs  were  in  a 
more  confused  state;  only  the  year  before,  1622,  the 
great  massacre  had  taken  place,  and  famine  and  dis- 
couragement had  very  naturally  followed  from  such  an 
appalling  destruction  of  life  and  property.  There  was 
now  only  too  much  truth  in  the  Commissioners'  state- 
ment that  most  of  the  persons  who  had  emigrated  to 
Virginia  had  perished  by  the  ravages  of  disease,  hunger, 
or  the  tomahawk;  but  they  omitted  to  dwell  upon  the 
plantation's  great  prosperity  just  before  the  catastrophe 
occurred,  and  the  assured  prospect  it  possessed  at  that 
time  of  an  extraordinary  growth  in  wealth  and  popula- 

'  For  synopsis  of  this  report,  see  Brown's  English  Politics  in 
Early  Virginia  History,  pp.  48,  49. 


Government  under  the  Charters       251 

tion  in  the  near  future.  They  declared,  without  real 
ground,  that  the  failure  of  the  Colony  (which  was  only 
temporary  and  for  a  cause  generally  understood) ,  was 
attributable  to  the  conduct  of  the  present  officers  and 
members  of  the  Company  residing  in  England ;  and  they 
showed  a  shrewd  knowledge  of  what  would  please  the 
King  by  asserting  that,  had  the  autocratic  form  of 
government  prevailing  under  the  first  charter  been 
continued,  instead  of  being  "altered  into  so  popular  a 
course  and  amongst  so  many  hands,"  Virginia's  con- 
dition would  have  been  still  happy  and  fortunate. 

Three  months  after  this  report — the  tenor  of  which 
had  been  practically  ordained  before  the  committee 
left  England, — had  been  delivered  to  the  King,  he  gave 
orders  that  the  Company  should  submit  to  its  members' 
vote  the  question  of  surrendering  its  charter.  Seventy 
ballots  in  all  were  cast,  and  only  nine  were  in  favor  of 
giving  up  the  letters-patent ;  and  of  the  persons  casting 
these  nine,  two  were  thought  not  to  be  entitled  to  a 
voice.1  It  is  plain  from  this  that  the  vast  majority  of 
the  members  were  not  disposed  to  yield  to  the  burning 
wish  of  the  King  without  a  resolute  struggle  in  defence 
of  their  rights.  In  the  following  January  (1624),  the 
Company  having  laid  a  petition  before  Parliament 
touching  their  controversy  with  James,  a  committee 
of  that  body  was  appointed  to  consider  it,  but  before 
this  committee  could  report,  the  King  peremptorily 
ordered  Parliament  to  leave  the  matter  alone  as  foreign 
to  its  jurisdiction;  and  to  this  the  members  silently 
assented.  As  soon  as  the  final  report  of  the  royal 
commission  chosen  to  inquire  into  the  Colony's  condition 
was  drawn  up  and  delivered  to  James  (which  was  only 
done  after  the  return  from  Virginia  of  Pory,  one  of  its 

•  British  Colonial  Papers,  1622-3,  No.  48. 


252  Political  Condition 

members) ,  an  action  of  Quo  Warranto  was  entered,  and 
the  letters-patent  permanently  revoked. 

Such  was  the  end  of  the  London  Company,  which 
was  struck  down  by  an  irresistible  blow  at  the  moment 
when,  under  the  direction  of  some  of  the  ablest  and 
noblest  spirits  in  England,  it  was  in  a  position  to  accom- 
plish for  the  advancement  of  the  Colony  far  more  than 
it  had  ever  done  before.     Whatever  may  be  said  of  the 
administration  of  affairs  in  Virginia  previous  to  1618, 
whether  that  administration  was,  on  the  whole,  con- 
ducted without  remarkable  wisdom,  or  whether  it  was 
the  most  sagacious  permitted  by  circumstances,  the 
period  in  the  Company's  history  lasting  from  16 18  to 
1622,  when  the  great  massacre  occurred  to  interrupt 
its  plans,  to  dishearten  its  friends,  and  to  give  a  weapon 
of  attack  to  a  hostile  faction,  is  one  of  the  most  memor- 
able in  the  annals  of  the  English  people,  and  will  always 
reflect  imperishable  honor  upon  the  names  of  Southamp- 
ton and  Sandys,  and  the  staunchest  of  their  supporters. 
Had  the   letters-patent   not    been    recalled;  had  the 
Company  been  sustained  and  encouraged  by  a  high- 
minded  and  patriotic  King;  had  no  controversy  arisen 
to  confuse  its  singleness  of  purpose ;  had  it  been  allowed, 
under  the  guidance  of  men  of  liberal  opinions  and  pro- 
found wisdom,  to  continue  indefinitely  the  work  of 
promoting  emigration  to  the  Colony,  of  establishing 
schools  and  colleges,  of  building  churches,  of  diversify- 
ing agricultural  products,  of  fostering  manufactures, 
of   defending    the    people    from    foreign    invasion,    of 
protecting  all  forms  of  popular  rights,  and  of  ensuring 
a  beneficent  rule  in  general,  there  can  be  little  doubt 
that  Virginia's  progress  during  the  Seventeenth  century 
would  have  been  far  greater  than  it  really  was  under 
the  direct  rule  of  a  dynasty  combining  preposterous 


Government  under  the  Charters        253 

notions  of  Divine  Right  with  a  spirit  of  bigotry,  corrup- 
tion, and  personal  depravity  to  a  degree  such  as  the 
world  has  rarely  witnessed. 

How  keen  was  the  feeling  prevailing  in  the  Colony 
against  those  who  had  encouraged  the  King  to  recall 
the  charter  was  shown  by  a  letter  signed  by  Governor 
Wyatt,  the  members  of  the  Council,  and  the  House  of 
Burgesses,  and  written  in  anticipation  of  the  Company's 
overthrow.  These  were  the  principal  representative 
men  in  Virginia;  and  there  is  no  reason  to  think  that, 
in  this  letter,  they  failed  to  reflect  the  general  opinion  of 
its  inhabitants.  "Our  prayers,"  so  this  memorable 
communication  ran,  "solicit  his  majesty's  tender 
compassion  not  to  suffer  his  poor  subjects  to  fall  into  the 
hands  of  Sir  Thomas  Smythe,  or  his  confederates,  who 
have  lately  abused  his  majesty's  sacred  ears  with  wrong 
information,  but  graciously  protect  them  (the  colonists) 
from  growing  storms  engendered  by  faction."1  The 
existence  of  this  faction — which  would  never  have  been 
formed  had  the  King  been  thought  to  favor  the 
Company — was  brought  forward  by  the  members  of 
the  cabal  itself  as  one  of  the  chief  justifications  for  the 
charter's  revocation.  Sir  Thomas  Nethersole,  writing 
to  Sir  Dudley  Carleton  in  July,  1624,  and  referring  to 
the  commission  of  Privy  Councillors  and  others  nom- 
inated to  assist  the  King  in  preparing  the  new  patent, 
declared  that  "the  reformation  intended  is  that  there 
shall  be  a  company  for  trade,  but  not  for  the  govern- 
ment of  the  country,  which  his  Majesty  will  take  care  of 
by  such  orders  as  shall  be  made  by  him  with  the  advice 

1  British  Colonial  Papers,  vol.  iii.,  No.  ar.  The  leaders  of  the 
faction  were  Earl  of  Warwick,  Sir  Thomas  Smythe,  Sir  Nathaniel 
Rich,  Sir  Henry  Mildmay,  and  Alderman  Johnson;  see  letter  of 
Chamberlain  to  Carleton,  Dom  Corr.,  James  I,  vol.  cxliii.,  No.  22. 


254  Political  Condition 

of  those  Commissioners  and  of  his  Privy  Council,  and 
thus  to  avoid  the  faction  which  hath  grown  in  the 
Company,  the  populousness  of  the  government  having 
been  also  otherwise  displeasing  to  his  Majesty/'1 

Orders  were  now  published  that  no  ship  should  leave 
England  for  Virginia  until  the  Commission  had 
framed  a  new  form  of  government  for  the  Colony.  The 
reason  given  in  explanation  of  this  action  was  that  the 
people,  knowing  only  that  the  Company  had  been  up- 
set, would  be  left  in  doubt  as  to  whether  they  were 
subject  to  the  authority  of  the  persons  then  in  control 
of  the  local  administration  of  affairs.  In  reality,  dis- 
affection to  the  proposed  change  was  feared;  and 
apprehending  lest  the  inhabitants  should  by  some  means 
hear  of  the  recall  of  the  letters-patent  before  all  the 
arrangements  were  matured,  and  break  out  into  serious 
distractions,  Sir  Robert  Heath,  the  Attorney-General, 
urged  that  commissions  should  be  sent  to  some  of  the 
principal  citizens  impowering  them  to  fill  the  most 
important  offices  until  the  framework  of  the  new  form 
of  government  had  been  completed.  His  advice  was 
followed.2 

i  Dom.  Corr.,  James  I,  vol.  clxix.,  No.  14. 

2  British  Colonial   Papers,  vol.  iii.,   Nos.    17,  I.,   18,   19.     Pory 
carried  these  temporary  commissions  to  Virginia. 


CHAPTER  III 
Government  under  the  Crown 

IT  was  a  happy  event  for  the  Colony  that  James  died 
so  soon  after  the  revocation  of  the  letters-patent,  as 
there  was  a  strong  probability  that,  had  he  lived, 
he  would  have  recalled  all  the  popular  rights  granted 
in  the  Company's  instructions  to  Governor  Yeardley 
in  1618,  including  the  right  to  representation  in  a  local 
assembly.  Sir  Thomas  Smythe  also  passed  away  the 
same  year,  and  thus  two  powerful  personal  influences 
hostile  to  the  best  interests  of  the  plantation  oversea 
were  suddenly  and  permanently  extinguished.  In 
May,  1625,  the  new  King  issued  a  proclamation  out- 
lining the  plan  of  government  for  Virginia  in  its  re- 
stored character  as  a  direct  dependance  of  the  Crown. 
He  declared  in  this  document  that  it  was  absolutely 
necessary  that  the  government  of  the  Colony  should  be 
made  to  assume  a  form  which  would  bring  it  into  com- 
plete harmony  with  the  one  prevailing  throughout  the 
rest  of  the  English  dominions ;  and  that  whilst  it  might 
be  proper  to  leave  all  matters  of  trade  and  commerce 
to  the  control  of  a  company,  it  was  not  fit  or  safe  to 
leave  to  such  a  body  the  administration  of  political 
affairs,  however  insignificant  those  affairs  might  appear 
to  be  in  reality.  Having  thus,  by  way  of  preamble, 
announced  certain  general  principles  considered  by 
him  indisputable,  Charles  proceeded  to  lay  the  primary 

255 


256  Political  Condition 

responsibility  for  the  government  of  Virginia  on  a 
council  resident  in  England,  which,  in  all  important 
business  touching  the  Colony,  was  to  be  subordinate 
to  the  Privy  Council,  and  in  all  matters,  small  or  great, 
subordinate  to  the  King  himself.  The  Governor  and 
the  Council  in  Virginia  were  to  be  subject  to  the  control 
of  the  resident  Council  in  England.  It  will  be  seen  from 
these  particulars  that  the  new  government  adopted  for 
Virginia  by  the  Crown  was  substantially  the  same  as 
the  one  in  operation  during  the  existence  of  the  charter 
of  1606,  the  first  granted  by  James,  as  we  have  seen.1 

But  what  was  far  more  important  than  any  of  these 
provisions  was  the  order  given  by  the  King  at  a  later 
date  that  the  House  of  Burgesses  should  continue  to 
meet  regularly  for  the  passage  of  laws.  In  confirming 
this  right,  he  was  not  so  much  following  the  example 
set  by  the  Company,  as,  like  that  body,  carrying  into 
practical  effect  the  general  promise  embodied  in  the 
first  charter,  namely,  that  the  citizens  of  Virginia 
"  should  enjoy  the  same  liberties,  franchises,  and  im- 
munities "  as  if  they  too  had  been  born  and  still  resided 
in  England.  Nor  did  Charles  dispute  the  momentous 
claim  put  forth  by  the  Assembly  that  it  constituted 
the  only  power  which  could  legally  impose  any  tax  on 
the  people  of  the  Colony. 

It  was  Yeardley's  singular  good  fortune  to  be  the 
Governor  who  brought  over  to  Virginia  the  instruction 
to  summon  the  first  Assembly  that  met  during  the 
Company's  supremacy,  and  also  the  Governor,  who, 
ten  years  later,  proclaimed  the  first  royal  confirmation 
of  that  great  right  after  the  immediate  supervision  of 
the   Colony's   affairs   was   again   undertaken   by  the 

1  Proclamation  of  Charles  I,  Va.  Maga.  of  Hist,  and  Biog.,  vol. 
vii.,  p.  133. 


Government  under  the  Crown         257 

Crown.  In  the  interval  before  his  arrival,  Wyatt,  by 
the  provisions  of  the  temporary  commission  sent  to 
him  very  soon  after  the  Company's  dissolution,  con- 
tinued to  perform  the  duties  of  the  Governor's  office, 
but  for  the  time  being  no  General  Assembly  convened. 
The  authority  to  call  it  together  was  evidently  not 
embraced  in  this  temporary  commission, — an  indication 
that  James  had  decided  in  his  own  mind  to  withdraw 
the  right  altogether.  As  the  Governor's  power  to 
summon  the  Assembly  had  been  cancelled  by  the 
revocation  of  the  letters-patent,  this  body  could  not 
legally  meet  without  the  royal  renewal  of  that  right. 
Wyatt  seems  to  have  hesitated  to  administer  the 
affairs  of  the  Colony  on  the  responsibility  of  the  Council 
and  himself  alone;  and  as  the  nearest  approach  to  the 
former  legislature  practicable,  was,  at  this  time,  in  the 
habit  of  inviting  the  principal  citizens  to  take  part  in 
their  deliberations  on  stated  occasions.  All  the  public 
documents  issued  as  expressing  the  conclusions  reached 
in  these  conferences  were  drawn  in  the  name  of  the 
0  Governor,  Council,  and  Colony  of  Virginia  assembled 
together." 

Yeardley  arrived  at  Jamestown  in  1626.  He  recog- 
nized as  clearly  as  Wyatt  himself  that  all  the  de- 
partments of  colonial  administration  could  not  be 
carried  on  by  the  Governor  and  the  Council  alone, 
acting  under  general  instructions  from  the  Crown  in 
England.  The  duties  of  these  officers,  both  executive 
and  judicial,  were  already  very  heavy  owing  to  the 
community's  rapid  growth  in  wealth  and  population; 
and  to  add  to  them  all  the  legislative  duties  as  well 
was  to  impose  a  burden  they  could  not  long  sustain, 
however  much  they  might  desire  to  do  so  in  consequence 
of  the  greater  authority  which  the  concentration  in 

VOL.  II-I7 


258  Political  Condition 

their  hands  of  all  the  work, — executive,  judicial,  and 
legislative, — would  have  necessarily  given  them.  No 
doubt,  after  their  extended  experience,  Wyatt  and 
Yeardley  saw  plainly  enough  that  Virginia's  remoteness 
from  the  Mother  Country  would  in  itself  alone  in  the 
end  force  the  restoration  of  the  General  Assembly ;  that 
a  colony  increasing  so  steadily  in  number  of  inhabitants 
could  not  be  forever  governed  from  across  such  a 
vast  expanse  of  sea ;  and  that  the  exercise  of  legislative 
powers,  even  if  the  Governor  and  Council  possessed  no 
executive  and  judicial  ones,  would  in  time  be  too  exact- 
ing for  them,  however  able,  industrious,  and  devoted 
to  the  public  good  they  might  be.  It  was  this  con- 
viction which  led  Wyatt  to  call  in  the  assistance  of  the 
foremost  citizens  when  questions  of  public  interest 
were  to  be  discussed;  and  the  same  conviction  induced 
Yeardley  to  lend  a  willing  and  sympathetic  ear  to  the 
popular  appeal, — which  he  was  so  urgently  requested 
to  lay  before  the  King, — for  the  restoration  of  the 
Assembly  as  a  part  of  the  legislative  framework  of  the 
Colony's  government.  Charles  evidently  hesitated  for 
some  time  to  renew  this  body's  right  to  meet  as  formerly ; 
but  his  advisers  had  the  practical  wisdom  to  perceive 
that  Virginia  could  no  longer  be  governed  precisely  as 
it  was  previous  to  1609,  during  the  first  charter's 
existence,  when  the  number  of  settlers  did  not  exceed 
a  few  hundred.  The  royal  instructions  to  call  the 
Assembly  together  again  were  brought  over  to  Virginia 
by  William  Capps,  and  in  March,  1628,  delivered  to 
Yeardley,  then  residing  at  Jamestown.  The  Governor, 
amid  general  rejoicings  over  so  happy  an  event,  hastened 
to  summon  the  House  of  Burgesses  to  meet1 ;  and  thus 
the  General  Assembly's  right  to  convene  was  perma- 

1  Brown's  First  Republic,  p.  647. 


Government  under  the  Crown         259 

nently  restored, — a  right  which  has  never  since  been 
even  questioned. 

Under  the  new  form  of  administration,  the  Governor, 
the  members  of  his  Council,  the  Treasurer,  and  the 
Secretary  of  State,  were  to  be  appointed  by  the  King, 
whilst  the  members  of  the  House  of  Burgesses  were  to 
be  chosen  by  the  votes  of  the  people.  The  substance  of 
the  change  was  that  the  Crown  and  not  a  corporation 
was  to  exercise  the  direct  controlling  power.  The 
old  London  Company,  however,  did  not  abandon  at 
once  all  hope  of  recovering  its  former  privileges.  Charles 
having,  in  1631,  nominated  commissioners,  with  in- 
structions to  report  on  the  most  feasible  and  promising 
means  of  advancing  the  Colony's  welfare,1  this  com- 
mittee, being  largely  composed  of  persons  formerly 
members  of  the  London  Company,  petitioned  the  King 
for  the  charter's  renewal  as  the  measure  most  likely 
to  assure  the  plantation's  lasting  prosperity.  They 
recommended,  among  other  things,  that  the  new 
charter  should  contain  the  following  provisions: 
first,  that  the  Colony  should  be  governed  by  a  commis- 
sion of  twenty-five  persons,  including  the  President, 
who  were  to  reside  in  England,  and  from  thence  to 
communicate  their  orders  to  the  Governor,  Council,  and 
Burgesses  in  Virginia  in  a  periodical  series  of  instruc- 
tions; second,  that  this  commission  should  possess  the 
right  to  decide  all  controversies  arising  between  the 
planters  and  the  Company,  or  between  the  planters 
themselves,  who,  however,  were  to  enjoy  the  right  of 
appeal  to  the  King  or  the  Privy  Council ;  third,  that  it 
should  be  impowered  to  elect  all  inferior  officers,  and 
also  to  recommend  to  the  King  the  names  of  the  persons 
deemed  by  it  to  be  fit  to  be  chosen  for  the  highest 

1  British  Colonial  Papers,  vol.  vi.,  No.  14. 


260  Political  Condition 

positions;  and  fourth,  that  it  should  also  be  impowered 
to  reject,  if  it  saw  proper,  all  ordinances  adopted  by 
the  Governor  and  Council,  and  all  laws  passed  by  the 
General  Assembly. 

This  prayer  for  a  new  charter,  together  with  the 
provisions  it  contained  raised  at  once  a  vigorous 
opposition;  those  hostile  to  the  proposed  change 
declared  that  the  whole  influence  of  the  old  London 
Company  tended  to  breed  hatred  of  the  King  as  a  man, 
and  of  monarchy  as  a  principle ;  that  the  recommenda- 
tion to  revive  that  body  had  its  origin,  not  in  any 
practical  demand  for  the  restoration  of  its  control,  but 
in  the  displeasure  which  its  surviving  members  still 
felt  in  recalling  the  fact  that  their  letters-patent  had 
been  taken  away;  that  the  renewal  of  these  letters- 
patent  would  alienate  from  the  Crown  quit-rents  now 
valued  at  two  thousand  pounds  annually;  that  since 
the  old  charter  had  been  revoked,  the  Colony  had  made 
extraordinary  progress  in  population,  in  means  of  sub- 
sistence, and  in  trade;  and  finally,  that  there  was  no 
more  need  of  a  company  to  govern  Virginia  than  there 
was  of  one  to  govern  Ireland,  since  Virginia,  like 
Ireland,  was  an  integral  part  of  the  Kingdom.1 

Charles  seems  to  have  been  for  some  time  in  a  state 
of  vacillation;  at  one  moment,  he  appeared  to  lean 
towards  those  who  were  anxious  for  the  new  letters- 
patent  to  issue;  at  another,  towards  those  who  were 
opposed  to  such  a  grant.  Probably,  the  new  charter 
would  have  been  formally  renewed  but  for  the  demand 
so  urgently  pressed  by  many  of  the  leading  citizens 
of  Virginia  that  the  patent  under  which  Lord  Balti- 
more held  Maryland  should  be  recalled,  and  that  part  of 
the  English  dominion  in  America  be  reabsorbed  into  the 

i  British  Colonial  Papers,  vol.  v.,  No.  31;  vol.  vi.,  Nos.  30,  32. 


Government  under  the  Crown        261 

older  Colony,  to  which  it  was  thought  to  belong  of  right. 
It  would  seem  that  the  King  so  far  yielded  to  the  com- 
mission's recommendations  as  to  direct  the  Attorney- 
General  to  draw  up  the  new  charter,  but  there  is  no 
proof  that  it  ever  passed  the  seal;  and  if  it  did  so,  it 
was  certainly  never  delivered  with  a  view  to  being  put 
into  immediate  operation.1 

In  1640,  the  General  Assembly,  being  anxious  to 
secure  a  renewal  of  the  rights  granted  to  the  colonists 
by  the  old  Company,  sent  to  George  Sandys,  then  in 
England,  a  petition  for  delivery  to  the  King  embodying 
their  wishes  on  this  point.  This  petition  was  really 
presented  to  Parliament,  which  was  known  to  be 
favorable  to  the  prayer  it  contained.2  Two  years  later, 
not  long  after  Berkeley  became  Governor,  the  new 
General  Assembly,  yielding  to  his  powerful  influence, 
formally  declared  its  opposition  to  the  old  charter's 
renewal,  and  the  King,  on  being  notified  of  this  act, 
thanked  his  faithful  subjects  oversea;  not  that  he  had 
entertained  the  design  of  restoring  the  letters-patent, 
he  said,  but  it  was  highly  pleasing  to  him  to  be  con- 
firmed in  his  determination  to  deny  all  requests  to  that 
effect.3 

It  would  appear  that  what  was  really  desired  by  the 
people  of  Virginia  was  not  a  charter  which  would  trans- 
fer the  government  of  the  Colony  from  the  Crown  to  a 
company, — such  as  existed  during  the  long  interval 
between  1609  and  1624, — but  a  charter  which  would 
recognize  and  confirm  as  a  permanency  all  those  politi- 
cal, commercial,  and  territorial  rights  enjoyed  by  them 

*  Va.  Maga.  of  Hist,  and  Biog.,  vol.  viii.,  pp.  41-3. 

2  Randolph  MS.,  vol.  iii.,  p.  241;  Brown's  English  Politics  in 
Early  Virginia  History,  p.  95  et  seq. 

3  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1606-62,  p.  237. 


262  Political  Condition 

before  the  Company  was  abolished.  At  present,  these 
were  dependent  upon  the  caprices  and  interests  of  the 
King,  who  at  any  time  might  order  their  recall.  The 
deliberate  grant  of  Maryland  to  Baltimore,  although  it 
was  embraced  in  the  area  belonging  to  Virginia  by  the 
provisions  of  the  early  charters,  had  revealed  to  the 
people  of  the  latter  Colony  the  precariousness  of  their 
rights,  should  Charles,  moved  by  some  hostile  influence, 
be  disposed  to  violate  them.  In  spite  of  protest  and 
remonstrance,  the  country  lying  immediately  north  and 
east  of  the  Potomac  was  never  restored;  in  addition, 
the  trade  of  the  plantations  suffered  severely  by  the 
operation  of  the  Navigation  Acts;  but  the  political 
rights  of  the  people,  as  well  as  their  title  to  their  lands 
were,  as  time  went  on,  fully  protected  by  repeated 
confirmations,  although  not  embodied  in  a  great  formal 
charter  as  had  been  so  ardently  desired.  The  dif- 
ficulties and  anxieties  in  which  Charles  became  so  deeply 
involved  at  home  by  his  struggle  with  Parliament  left 
him  little  time  to  give  attention  to  the  Colony's  affairs, 
and  it  was  perhaps  due  to  this  fact, — in  part  at  least, — 
that  this  monarch's  reign,  which  bore  so  heavily  on 
England,  was  marked  by  no  extraordinary  acts  of 
oppression  oversea. 

During  the  great  Protector's  rule,  the  government  in 
Virginia  reflected  in  a  general  way,  the  spirit  of  the 
memorable  resolution  adopted  by  the  Rump  Parlia- 
ment: "The  people  are  under  God  the  original  of  all 
just  power."1  In  this  too  brief  interval,  when  the 
whole  body  of  the  population  exercised  an  extraordinary 
influence  on  the  course  of  political  events,  the  House 
of  Burgesses  practically  controlled  the  adminis- 
tration of  public  affairs.     The  Governor  and  Council 

«  Green's  Short  History  of  the  English  People. 


Government  under  the  Crown        263 

themselves  were  elected  by  it,  and  thus  the  highest 
officers  of  the  Colony,  being  creatures  of  its  breath, 
were  submissive  to  its  voice  as  long  as  they  desired  to 
retain  their  positions.  "The  Commons  of  England," 
the  Rump  Parliament  had  also  affirmed,  "  being  chosen 
by  and  representing  the  people,  have  the  supreme  in 
their  nation;  and  whatsoever  is  declared  for  law  by 
the  Commons,  hath  the  force  of  law,  and  all  the  people 
of  this  nation  are  concluded  thereby."1  So  accurately 
did  these  words  show  the  scope  of  the  power  at  this  time 
possessed  by  the  House  of  Burgesses  that  they  might 
easily  have  originated  in  that  body ;  no  doubt,  they  were 
known  to  its  leading  members;  and  the  principle  they 
proclaimed  was  accepted  as  justification  for  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  highly  popular  form  of  government  in 
Virginia.  Indeed,  that  government  was  more  popular 
than  the  one  prevailing  in  England,  for  over  England 
the  mighty  shadow  of  Cromwell  was  projected,  whilst 
that  shadow,  vast  as  it  was,  was  not  sufficiently  vast 
to  reach  across  the  Atlantic;  or  if  it  did  so,  it  was  not 
portentous  enough  at  that  distance  to  suppress  the 
spirit  of  popular  freedom  there,  but  instead  left  it 
strong  and  unconfined.2 

As  in  England,  so  in  Virginia  the  restoration  of  *the 
Stuarts  was  followed  by  a  period  during  which  the 
spirit  of  reaction  revealed  itself  in  nearly  every  de- 

»  Green's  Short  History  of  the  English  People.  The  first  Governor 
and  Council  appointed  after  the  surrender  in  1651  seem  to  have 
been  'named  by  the  Commissioners  of  Parliament  who  arrived  in 
Virginia  during  the  course  of  that  year. 

2  In  England,  Government  by  an  Assembly  was  fully  tested 
between  1649  an^  1651  and  ended  in  failure.  The  Executive  in 
England  in  the  person  of  Cromwell  finally  overshadowed  the  whole 
administration.  In  Virginia,  on  the  other  hand,  the  Governor 
became  increasingly  subordinate  to  the  Assembly. 


A 


264  Political  Condition 

partment  of  public  affairs ;  and  the  evils  thus  occasioned 
slowly  accumulated  until  they  brought  about  the  most 
serious  insurrection  recorded  in  American  history  pre- 
vious to  the  Revolution.  In  a  fine  burst  of  enthusi- 
asm, the  impulsive  Berkeley,  then  younger  and  more 
generous  in  his  feelings,  had,  in  165 1,  exclaimed  that 
the  "sun  did  not  look  upon  a  people  more  free  from 
oppression  "  than  the  Virginians.1  Sixteen  years  later, 
these  words  on  his  lips,  had  he  had  the  assurance  and 
hardihood  to  utter  them,  would  have  aroused  the  in- 
dignant protest  of  all  but  his  own  followers.  The 
series  of  wrongful  acts  leading  up  to  the  rebellion  of 
1676  were  among  the  most  exasperating  that  any 
section  of  the  American  people  have  ever  been  called 
upon  to  endure  for  the  same  length  of  time.  Restric- 
tive navigation  laws;  onerous  and  multifarious  taxa- 
tion; measures  for  affording  Burgesses  very  high 
remuneration  without  relieving  the  counties  of  ad- 
ditional expense  on  that  score ;  the  continuation  of  the 
same  Assembly  for  fourteen  years  because  Berkeley 
had  found  its  members  to  be  submissive  and  ready 
instruments  for  his  purposes;  the  self -perpetuation  of 
the  vestries  in  the  same  spirit,  in  contempt  of  the 
people's  right  of  election;  the  concentration  of  all  the 
offices  and  all  the  power  in  the  hands  of  a  few  possessing 
no  legal  claim  to  such  privileges;  the  persecution  of 
religious  sects;  the  subordination  of  the  safety  of  the 
whole  community,  threatened  with  Indian  invasion, 
to  the  interests  of  the  Governor  in  the  fur  trade,  a  trade 
which  would  have  been  destroyed  by  a  vigorous  cam- 
paign against  the  savages, — such  were  some  of  the 

1  Va.  Maga.  of  Hist,  and  Biog.,  vol.  i.,  p.  77.  "There  is  not  here," 
Berkeley  added,  "an  arbitrary  hand  that  dares  to  touch  the  sub- 
stance of  either  poore  or  rich. " 


Government  under  the  Crown        265 

more  powerful  influences  which  precipitated  the  In- 
surrection of  1676,  a  movement  deserving  as  much 
success  as  the  one  that,  one  hundred  years  later, 
resulted  in  the  independence  of  the  Colonies. 

During  this  part  of  his  career,  Berkeley  was  only  too 
faithful  a  servant  and  too  slavish  an  imitator  of  a 
King,  who,  without  for  a  moment  consulting  the  wishes 
of  his  subjects  oversea,  by  a  few  strokes  of  his  pen 
transferred  the  whole  of  Virginia  to  the  practical 
sovereignty  of  two  members  of  his  Court.  In  the 
grant  to  Arlington  and  Culpeper,  it  was  provided  that 
the  beneficiaries  should,  in  the  future,  receive  all  the 
escheats,  quit-rents,  duties,  reservations,  and  the  like 
then  belonging  to  the  Crown;  and  that  they  should 
have  the  power  to  issue  patents,  to  nominate  sheriffs, 
to  present  clergymen  to  vacant  livings,  to  establish 
new  parishes  and  counties,  and  to  use  a  separate  seal.1 
It  was  not  remarkable  that  so  complete  a  gift  of  the 
Colony,  just  as  if  it  had  been  a  mistress  of  whom  the 
royal  fancy  had  tired,  should  have  aroused  consterna- 
tion and  indignation  among  its  people,  hardened  though 
they  were,  in  a  measure,  to  the  callous  disregard  of 
their  rights  and  interests  so  often  displayed  by  those  in 
power.  Agents  were  sent  to  England  in  the  hope  of 
securing  a  charter  which  would  render  such  grants  in 
the  future  impossible.  The  charter  finally  obtained 
by  these  agents,  after  the  most  earnest  solicitations, 
passed  the  signet,  but  not  the  great  seal,  as  the  re- 
bellion soon  furnished  a  pretext  for  recalling  the 
instrument. 

Fortunately,  the  Revolution  of  1688  occurred  to 
remove  the  people  of  Virginia  and  England  alike  from 
the  control  of  a  dynasty  seeking  as  far  as  lay  within  its 

*  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  ii.,  p.  427. 


266  Political  Condition 

reach  to  abridge  every  form  of  popular  right.  The 
anxieties  felt  during  the  earlier  periods  of  the  Colony's 
history  had  not,  however,  entirely  passed  away.  In  1 69 1 , 
Jeffrey  Jeffreys  was  appointed  commissioner  for  Virginia 
in  London,  and  in  the  same  year,  he  was  instructed 
to  obtain,  first,  a  confirmation  of  the  power  exercised 
by  the  General  Assembly  of  making  laws  not  repugnant 
to  the  general  laws  of  England;  secondly,  the  royal 
approval  of  the  proposition  that  no  tax  should  be  laid 
on  the  people  of  the  Colony  without  the  previous 
assurance  of  their  consent ;  and,  finally,  a  full  guarantee 
that  the  Virginians  and  their  posterity  should  enjoy 
those  various  "  privileges,  franchises,  and  immunities  " 
belonging  by  birth  to  every  English  subject,  and  should 
also  have  the  full  benefit  of  the  great  charter  and  all 
other  statutes  and  state  papers  regulating  the  liberty 
of  the  English  citizen.1  It  would  appear  that  Jeffreys 
was  not  successful  in  securing  the  formal  document 
desired,  for,  in  1695,  the  House  of  Burgesses  petitioned 
the  King  to  grant  the  charter  drawn  up  in  1676,  which, 
as  we  have  seen,  was  cancelled  only  after  the  news  of 
the  Insurrection  had  been  received.2  However,  the 
general  rights  of  all  English  subjects,  whether  residents 
of  the  Colony  or  of  England  itself,  were  now  so  amply 
protected  that  there  was  no  urgent  reason  why  these 
rights,  as  enjoyed  by  the  people  of  Virginia,  should  be 
confirmed  to  them  in  a  formal  instrument. 

1  B.  T.  Va.,  May  22,  1691,  No.  23. 

» Ibid.,  Entry  Book,  vol.  xxxvi.,  p.  84. 


CHAPTER  IV 
English  Board  of  Control 

WHAT  body  in  England  exercised  direct  control 
over  the  affairs  of  Virginia  after  the  revocation 
of  the  Company' s  letters-patent  in  1 6  2  4  ?  Pre- 
vious to  that  year,  when  the  King  had  occasion  to  com- 
municate a  wish  or  order  respecting  the  Colony  oversea, 
it  was  done  by  him  through  his  Privy  Council.  Even 
in  162 1,  the  Company's  power  and  prosperity  being  then 
at  their  height,  the  Governor  was  instructed  to  advise 
with  the  Privy  Council  whenever  matters  of  great 
difficulty  and  importance  arose.  In  1626,  the  charter 
having  been  recalled,  the  same  officer  addressed  himself 
to  the  Lords  Commissioners  chosen  to  settle  the  affairs 
of  Virginia ;  but,  along  with  his  Council,  he  is  also  found 
the  same  year,  making  a  report  directly  to  the  Privy 
Council.1  In  1626  also,  the  Instructions  of  Yeardley, 
who  had  been  recently  reappointed  Governor  of  the 
Colony,  were  signed  by  the  latter  body2 ;  and  the  Privy 
Council  also  signed  the  Instructions  which,  three  years 
later,  were  given  to  Governor  Harvey.3  In  1631,  the 
charges  brought  against  Dr.  John  Pott  for  improper 
conduct  while  filling  the  position   of   Governor   were 

«  British  Colonial  Papers,  vol.  iii.,  No.  1;  Randolph  MS.,  vol.  iii.. 
p.   203. 

2  Randolph  MS.,  vol.  iii.,  p.  197. 
»  British  Colonial  Papers,  vol.  v.,  No.  94,  I. 

267 


268  Political  Condition 

investigated  by  a  body  known  as  the  "  Commissioners 
for  Virginia  "  and  it  was  by  their  representations  as  to 
the  groundlessness  of  these  accusations  that  the  King 
was  led  to  confer  a  pardon.1  During  this  year,  how- 
ever, the  Acts  of  Assembly  were  sent  directly  to  the 
Privy  Council ;  and  it  was  to  this  body  that  the  House  of 
Burgesses  applied,  when,  in  163 1-2  also,  they  were 
anxious  for  the  King  to  continue  all  the  grants,  liberties, 
and  privileges  bestowed  since  the  abolition  of  the 
Company.2 

Charles  I,  in  1632,  created  a  Board  of  Commissioners 
to  take  into  consideration  the  former  condition  of 
Virginia;  the  commodities  to  which  its  soil  was  best 
adapted;  and  the  most  promising  and  practical  means 
of  increasing  the  prosperity  of  its  people.  This  Board 
was  impowered  to  summon  witnesses,  examine  papers, 
and  obtain  information  by  every  means  in  its  reach; 
and  its  members  were  required  to  lay  a  full  report 
before  the  King  from  time  to  time.3  It  was  to  this 
Board  that  the  Governor  and  Council  addressed  them- 
selves when  they  had  matters  of  importance  to  com- 
municate touching  the  affairs  of  the  Colony.  In  1633, 
when  numerous  petitions  were  entered  for  large  tracts 
of  land,  the  Governor  and  Council  wrote,  not  to  the 
Privy  Council,  but  to  these  Commissioners  in  approval 
of  the  proposed  grants.4  That  this  Board,  however, 
was  designed  to  be  only  temporary,  is  shown  by  the 
fact  that,  in  1634,  Charles  appointed  a  commission  of 
twelve  persons,  headed  by  the  celebrated  Laud,  Arch- 
bishop  of   Canterbury,   to   overlook   all   the   English 

»  British  Colonial  Papers,  vol.  vi.,  Nos.  18,  20. 

2  Randolph  MS.,  vol.  iii.,  p.  219. 

3  Ibid.,  pp.  220-1. 

4  Ibid.,  p.  224. 


English  Board  of  Control  269 

Colonies.  The  powers  bestowed  upon  this  commission 
were  very  comprehensive:  its  members  were  author- 
ized, for  instance,  to  pass  orders  and  laws  for  civil 
and  criminal  administration,  to  punish  ecclesiastical  of- 
fences by  fines  and  imprisonment,  to  remove  governors, 
to  establish  courts,  to  appoint  judges  and  magistrates, 
and  to  utter  the  final  word  as  to  all  charters  and 
patents.1  The  first  important  business  which  the 
commission  was  called  upon  to  settle  in  connection 
with  Virginia  arose  out  of  Harvey's  expulsion  from  the 
Colony.  The  letters  written  to  it  by  the  deposed 
Governor,  who  had  raised  a  loud  outcry  over  his  treat- 
ment, were  referred  to  the  Attorney-General,  and  his 
opinion  seems  to  have  determined  the  case.2  During 
the  following  year,  the  various  communications  from 
the  Governor  and  Council  at  Jamestown  to  the  English 
Government  were  addressed  to  the  "  Lords  Commission- 
ers of  the  Foreign  Plantations,"  the  official  title  of  this 
powerful  Board  of  Control.3  Two  years  later,  the 
Privy  Council  is  found  referring  all  petitions  made  to 
them  directly  to  what  they  designate  as  the  "  Sub-Com- 
mittee for  Foreign  Plantations,"  an  indication  that  the 
work  done  by  the  Commission  was  really  done  by  a 
specially  appointed  section  of  it.  This  sub-committee 
was  ordered  to  report  on  the  petitions  mentioned,  not 
to  the  Commission  itself,  but  to  the  Privy  Council, — 

1  British  Colonial  Papers,  vol.  viii.,  No.  12.  The  members  of 
this  powerful  commission  were  the  Archbishops  of  Canterbury  and 
York,  the  Lord  Keeper,  the  Lord  High  Treasurer,  the  Earls  of 
Manchester,  Arundel,  and  Dorset,  Lord  Cottingham,  Sir  Thomas 
Edmond,  Sir  John  Coke,  and  Sir  Francis  Windebanke. 

2  British  Colonial  Papers,  vol.  viii.,  No.  69. 

3  This  was  also  the  address  used  by  Harvey  in  1635  in  writing 
to  the  Commissioners;  see  also  Patent  Roll  12,  Car.  L,  Part  21, 
No.  i. 


27o 


Political  Condition 


a  course  not  improbably  followed  when  the  matter  for 
decision,  though  relating  to  one  of  the  Colonies,  had 
come  before  the  latter  body  in  the  first  instance.1 

As  soon  as  the  Parliamentarians  had  taken  an  ad- 
vanced position  in  opposition  to  the  royal  authority, 
one  of  their  most  important  measures  was  to  establish 
a  Commission  of  their  own,  headed  by  Lord  Pembroke, 
for  the  government  of  the  Colonies.  This  Commission 
was  appointed  about  16432;  but  some  years  later,  when 
England  had  passed  under  the  rule  of  the  great  Pro- 
tector, all  matters  relating  to  Virginia  and  the  other 
communities  oversea  were  deliberated  upon  and  settled 
by  the  Council  of  State  for  the  Commonwealth.  If  that 
body  found  that  it  needed  advice  in  order  to  reach  a 
just  and  correct  decision,  it  referred  the  question  to 
some  other  department  of  the  Government ;  for  instance, 
all  petitions  and  the  like  touching  the  ships  engaged 
in  the  plantation  trade  were  generally  submitted  by 
the  Council  to  the  Admiralty's  consideration,  with 
instructions  to  return  a  full  report  on  all  the  points  at 
issue.  In  the  course  of  1650,  a  resolution  was  adopted 
by  the  Council  of  State  that,  whenever  it  was  deemed 
advisable,  its  members  should  choose  a  commission  of 
five  of  their  own  number,  who  were  to  be  known  as  the 
"  Committee  of  Trade  and  Plantations,"  and  were  to  be 
impowered  to  transact  all  that  business  relating  to  the 
Colonies  which  the  whole  Council  had  previously  taken 
cognizance  of.3  Apparently,  however,  this  was  not 
designed  to  be  a  permanent  committee,  for,  two  years 
afterwards,  a  standing  commission  composed  of  twenty- 

*  British  Colonial  Papers,  vol.  x.,  No.  11. 

2  See  Brown's  English  Politics  in  Early  Virginia  History,  p.  99 
et  seq. 

3  Interregnum  Entry  Book,  vol.  xcii.,  pp.  5,  7. 


English  Board  of  Control  271 

one  members  selected  from  the  Council  of  State  were 
nominated  to  take  charge  of  all  matters  coming  before 
this  body  relating,  not  only  to  the  Colonies,  but  also  to 
foreign  countries  in  general.1 

After  the  restoration  of  the  Stuarts  to  the  throne,  the 
general  supervision  of  the  affairs  of  Virginia  and  the 
other  Colonies  became  at  first  the  duty  of  a  standing 
commission  or  council  composed  of  the  foremost  officers 
of  the  Crown,  such,  for  instance,  as  the  Lord  Chancellor, 
the  Lord  Treasurer,  and  the  like  great  dignitaries. 
Any  five  of  this  imposing  body  were  authorized  to  take 
into  their  immediate  consideration  the  condition  of  all 
the  Plantations;  and  they  were  to  be  held  responsible 
for  the  proper  government  of  the  different  communities 
oversea.  All  the  communications  from  the  heads  of 
the  local  administration  in  these  communities  were  to 
be  addressed  to  this  commission,  which  was  to  be 
designated  as  the  "  Council  of  Foreign  Plantations.' ' 
In  a  letter  written  by  Berkeley  to  the  Commission  in 
1662,  he  reveals  its  general  powers  in  a  few  words: 
"  Since  his  Sacred  Majesty  has  been  so  pleased  to  erect 
so  necessary  a  committee  for  us  to  instruct,  encourage, 
and  administer  to  ye  performance  of  our  duties  for  ye 
future,  we  will,  with  your  permission,  point  out  our 
laws,  present  them  to  you  either  for  your  approbation, 
amendment,  or  rejection."2 

Fourteen  years  after  the  date  of  this  letter,  Virginia 
was  subject  to  the  control  of  what  was  known  at  this 
time  as  the  "  Committee  on  Plantations,"  or  the  u  Lords 
Commissioners  of  Plantations,"3  a  body  chosen  entirely 
from  the  members  of  the  Privy  Council,  and  bearing 

1  Interregnum  Entry  Book,  vol.  xcvi.,  p.  8. 

2  British  Colonial  Papers,  vol.  xvi.,  No.  78. 

3  Colonial  Entry  Book,  vol.  xcvii.;  see  entry  for  March  1,  1675-6. 


272  Political  Condition 

the  same  relation  to  it  as  was  borne  to  the  Council  of 
State  by  a  similar  committee  nominated  during  Crom- 
well's supremacy.  The  Lords  Commissioners,  writing 
in  1676  to  Berkeley,  informed  him  that  the  King  had 
abolished  the  "  Council  of  Trade  and  Foreign  Plan- 
tations," which  had  previously  exercised  a  general 
supervision  over  the  Colonies,  and  apparently  was 
composed  of  men  not  all  members  of  the  Privy  Council 
itself.  Although  a  general  committee  of  that  Council 
was  appointed  to  take  its  place,  the  particular  care  and 
management  of  all  things  relating  to  the  Plantations 
was  imposed  on  a  select  number  of  this  committee, 
who  thus  constituted  a  distinct  board  or  sub-commission 
of  itself.1  This  board  was,  in  1677,  designated  as  the 
"Lords  of  the  Committee  of  Council  for  Trade  and 
Plantations."2 

It  was  not  until  1696  that  the  commission  in  charge 
of  the  Colonies  assumed  its  permanent  form  as  well  as 
its  final  name ;  in  the  course  of  that  year,  the  celebrated 
"Board  of  Trade  and  Plantations"  was  established3; 
which  seems  to  have  resembled  the  committee  immedi- 
ately preceding  it  in  time  in  every  way  except  in  the 
fact  that  its  composition  was  not  necessarily  limited 
to  persons  belonging  to  the  Privy  Council. 

Although  the  numerous  committees  exercising,  dur- 
ing the  far  greater  part  of  the  Seventeenth  century, 
a  strict  supervision  over  the  affairs  of  the  Colonies, 
differed  to  a  considerable  degree  in  their  names  and 
the  character  of  their  membership, — the  members 
of  some  being  drawn  from  the  Privy  Council  alone,  and 
of   others   apparently   from   the   body   of   influential 

1  Colonial  Entry  Book,  vol.  lxxx.,  pp.  47-52. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  152. 

5  Campbell's  History  of  Virginia,  p.  348. 


English  Board  of  Control  273 

Englishmen, — nevertheless,  the  powers  enjoyed  by 
them  all  were  substantially  the  same.  In  the  instance 
of  each,  the  transaction  of  business  was,  in  theory  at 
least,  subject  to  the  general  oversight  of  the  King;  but 
it  is  not  probable  that  much  of  the  work  done  by  them 
ever  really  passed  under  the  monarch's  eyes,  as  it  was, 
to  a  large  extent,  purely  routine  in  its  nature. 

VOL.  II. — 18 


CHAPTER  V 
Loyalty  to  the  Throne 

THERE  are  numerous  indications  that,  throughout 
the  Seventeenth  century,  the  people  of  the 
Colony,  as  a  body,  entertained  a  very  strong 
feeling  of  loyalty  to  the  throne;  nowhere,  indeed,  in 
the  British  dominions,  during  that  period,  was  the 
allegiance  to  the  King  based  more  firmly  on  popular 
reverence  for  the  principle  which  he  represented, 
however  much  cause  some  of  the  monarchs  may  have 
personally  given  for  dissatisfaction  and  discontent. 
As  early  as  1643,  the  punishment  imposed  upon  any 
one  convicted  of  having  spoken  scandalous  words  about 
the  King  and  Queen  was  banishment  from  Virginia.1 
At  that  time,  the  civil  war  had  already  broken  out  in 
England,  and  the  battle  of  Edgehill,  in  which  the  royal 
forces  had  been  worsted,  had  been  fought.  In  the 
Colony,  no  sympathy  was  felt  by  any  large  body  of 
influential  persons  for  the  side  of  the  Parliamentarians, 
and  a  disapproving  comment  on  Charles's  conduct,  or  a 
slighting  or  sarcastic  reference  to  his  followers,  exposed 
any  one  uttering  it  to  the  danger  of  arrest.2  In  1648, 
the  year  before  Charles  lost  his  head  on  the  scaffold, 
and  when  the  monarchy  had  fallen  in  ruins,  a  loud  com- 

1  Robinson  Transcripts,  p.  238. 

2  See  case  of  Capt.  Ingle,  who  aroused  the  anger  of  Argoll  Yeard- 
ley,  a  Councillor,  by  speaking  of  the  cavaliers  as  "Rattletraps"; 
Northampton  County  Records,  Orders  Aug.  31,  1643. 

274 


Loyalty  to  the  Throne  275 

plaint  was  raised  by  some  persons  that  the  Governor 
and  Council,  in  impressing  citizens  to  serve  as  soldiers 
simply  by  warrant,  without  the  authority  of  an  Act  of 
Assembly,  were  guilty  of  an  unjustifiable  infringement 
on  the  liberties  and  rights  of  the  people.  In  reply  to 
this  charge,  the  Assembly  itself  declared  that  these 
officials  had  derived  their  power  directly  from  the  King 
through  repeated  instructions  to  their  predecessors  as 
well  as  to  themselves ;  and  that  it  was  very  unbecoming 
in  any  one  to  fail  to  acknowledge  the  extraordinary 
care  and  forethought  shown  by  his  Majesty  in  conferring 
such  a  power  on  the  Governor  and  Council,  as  by  means 
of  it  they  were  always  prepared  to  defend  the  Colony 
without  any  delay.1 

When  news  reached  Virginia  that  Charles  had  been 
beheaded,  the  General  Assembly  boldly  denounced 
"  the  treasonable  principles  and  practices "  of  the  all- 
powerful  party  in  England  responsible  for  that  "  crime," 
and  which,  not  content  with  regicide, was  systematically 
"  aspersing  the  memory  of  the  martyr,"  and  denying  and 
scoffing  at  the  "  Divine  Right  of  Kings."  Any  one  in 
Virginia  heard  defending  its  flagrant  and  impious  pro- 
ceedings,— so  the  General  Assembly  proclaimed, — 
should  be  taken  as  an  accessory  after  the  act  to  the 
'■■  murder  "  of  the  monarch;  and  whoever  should  venture 
to  cast  any  reflection  upon  his  conduct  during  life 
should  be  subject  to  such  penalties  as  the  Governor 
and  Council  should  consider  proper  to  impose.  All 
persons  known  to  have  questioned  the  right  of  Charles 
II  to  succeed  his  father  on  the  throne  were  to  be 
arrested  and  punished  as  guilty  of  high  treason.2 

Such  was  the  strength  of  the  feeling  entertained  by 

1  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  i.,  p.  355. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  361. 


276  Political  Condition 

the  General  Assembly  in  favor  of  the  King  and  Monarch 
at  the  end  of  that  great  struggle  in  which  the  King 
himself  had  lost  his  life,  and  the  monarchy  had  appar- 
ently been  utterly  destroyed!  No  dictate  of  prudence, 
no  weak  leaning  towards  a  side  simply  because  it  was 
victorious,  was  allowed  to  influence  these  zealous 
supporters  of  the  principle  of  royalty.  The  civil  wars 
had  been  carried  on  too  far  away  from  the  Colony  to 
affect  seriously  its  inhabitants'  interests;  their  material 
condition  had  not  been  injured  by  battles,  sieges,  and 
raids  at  their  very  doors,  as  had  happened  to  their 
English  kinsfolk;  the  political  controversies  involved  in 
the  contest  between  Charles  and  Parliament  were  too 
remote  to  be  grasped  by  them  as  bearing  on  the  welfare 
of  all  English  subjects.  So  far  as  the  bulk  of  the  people 
of  Virginia  could  see,  the  King  was  fighting  for  the  pre- 
servation of  his  inherited  prerogatives  against  a  vast 
multitude  of  rebels;  and  that  spectacle,  greatly  shocking 
their  loyal  feelings,  aroused  their  indignant  sympathy 
on  his  behalf.  All  Berkeley's  influence,  which  at  this 
time  was  very  powerful,  was  directed  towards  confirm- 
ing and  spreading  this  sympathy.  Whatever  may 
have  been  his  faults,  he  was  not  the  person  to  allow 
his  impulses  to  be  controlled  by  suggestions  that  were 
purely  politic;  indeed,  he  had  no  toleration  for  any 
form  of  compromise ;  and  in  this  great  crisis,  he  probably 
omitted  no  opportunity  to  express  his  detestation  of 
the  Roundheads  and  his  admiration  for  Charles's 
character  and  his  devotion  to  his  person.  His  influence 
was  supported  by  that  of  the  large  body  of  Cavaliers 
who  had  found  a  refuge  in  Virginia,  where  their  social 
accomplishments,  experience  in  the  Civil  Wars,  and 
fidelity  to  the  throne,  had  given  their  opinions  and 
sentiments  extraordinary  weight. 


Loyalty  to  the  Throne  277 

How  firm  was  the  Virginians'  loyalty  to  the  Monarchy 
in  spite  of  the  cloud  of  misfortune  and  despair  which 
hung  over  it  after  Charles's  death,  was  shown  by  the 
action  of  the  justices  of  Lower  Norfolk  as  late  as  165 1, 
when  the  King  had  been  in  his  grave  at  least  two  years. 
On  its  being  reported  to  them  that  John  Townes  had 
been  heard  speaking  traitorous  words  against  Charles  II, 
they  promptly  issued  a  warrant  for  his  arrest;  and  he 
was  only  released  after  he  had  given  satisfactory 
security  to  appear  before  the  General  Court  to  answer 
for  his  offence.  As  he  persisted  "  in  his  seditious  ways 
and  malignant  terms"  against  the  King,  he  was  re- 
arrested, and  kept  in  close  custody  until  carried  off 
by  the  sheriff  to  Jamestown.  Townes,  who  followed 
the  trade  of  a  carpenter,  does  not  seem  to  have 
possessed  any  influence ;  nor  did  he  represent  a  segment 
of  public  opinion  held  by  a  great  many  others  besides 
himself. 1 

In  offering  a  determined  front  to  the  fleet  dispatched 
in  165 1  to  the  Colony  by  Parliament,  Berkeley,  no 
doubt,  was  fully  aware  that  he  was  supported  by  the 
active  sympathy  of  the  overwhelming  majority  of  the 
Virginian  people  of  all  classes.  Among  the  very  liberal 
terms  secured  by  his  boldness  and  firmness  was  one 
declaring  that  "neither  the  Governor  nor  Council 
should  be  obliged  to  take  an  oath  to  the  Commonwealth, 
nor  be  censured  for  speaking  well  of  the  King  for  one 
year."  Berkeley  himself  had  very  probably  suggested 
the  insertion  of  this  provision,  not  for  one  year,  but 
perhaps  for  an  indefinite  period.  He  was  permitted 
by  the  same  memorable  articles  to  send  a  messenger  to 
Charles  II  in  Holland  to  inform  him  of  the  surrender. 

1  Lower  Norfolk  County  Records,  vol.  1646-51,  p.  174;  also 
Orders  Oct.  30,  1651. 


278  Political  Condition 

All  persons  residing  in  the  Colony  who  had  served  the 
late  King,  whether  in  military  or  civil  life,  were  guaran- 
teed exemption  from  punishment,  and  the  right  to 
follow  out  their  own  lives  as  they  should  prefer.1 

When  news  of  the  fall  of  the  Commonwealth  arrived 
in  the  Colony,  Berkeley  seems,  with  the  entire  approval 
of  the  people,  to  have  resumed  the  performance  of  all 
the  duties  of  the  Governorship  even  before  he  was 
formally  chosen  to  the  position  by  the  Assembly's 
votes  in  accord  with  the  custom  which,  as  we  have 
seen,  had  prevailed  during  the  time  of  the  Protec- 
torate.2 The  proclamation  issued  in  Surry  county 
announcing  the  restoration  of  Charles  II  to  the  English 
throne  was  a  duplicate  of  all  those  publicly  read  at  the 

»  British  Colonial  Papers,  vol.  xi.,  No.  46.  The  following  shows 
the  attitude  of  many  persons  even  after  the  power  cf  the  Common- 
wealth had  been  firmly  established  in  the  Colony.  It  is  possible, 
however,  that  Greene  exaggerated  his  loyalty. 

"To  Honorable  Col.  Browne,  the  Humble  Remonstrance  of 
Peter  Greene,  giveth  you  to  understand  that  the  seducing  year 
there  was  a  strange  horrid  imposition  by  oath  enjoyned  on  the 
people  in  general,  but  most  especially  upon  the  Commanders  of 
the  Collonie,  of  the  which  I  was  then  one  of  the  number,  in  the 
Behalf e  of  («.  e.,  respect  of)  my  King  and  Countrie,  the  which  oath 
seemed  so  detestible  and  sacrilidgious  to  me  that  I  did  not  only 
refuse  it,  but  did  likewise  utterly  detest  the  thoughts  of  it,  being 
a  most  damnable  hereticall  imposition  contrary  to  the  fundamental 
laws  of  the  Kingdom  and  my  tender  conscience;  and  withall  did 
then  in  the  face  of  the  enemy  that  had  then  power  to  destroy 
my  body,  express  and  declare  that  I  would  suffer  the  execution  of 
Death  before  my  own  doore  than  derrogate  from  those  kingly 
principalis  which  I  had  been  ever  naturally  endowed  with;  this 
I  have  thought  good  to  declare  unto  you,  not  that  I  desyre  a  cap- 
tain's place  according  to  succession,  but  that  you  would  be  pleased 
to  consider  ye  endeavours  and  loyalty  of  ye  King's  antiente  friends 
and  acquaintance,  not  that  it  is  my  desyre  to  displace  any  now,  but 
that  my  loyalty  may  be  considered  by  some  encouragement  ac- 
cording to  my  Deserts;  Peter  Greene."  Surry  County  Records, 
vol.  1645-72,  p.  129,  Va.  St.  Libr. 

2  See  Va.  Maga.  of  Hist,  and  Biog.,  vol.  vii.,  p.  314. 


Loyalty  to  the  Throne  279 

same  time  throughout  Virginia:  it  declared  that,  im- 
mediately on  the  decease  of  Charles  I,  the  English 
Crown,  and  the  whole  of  the  English  dominions,  had 
descended  to  his  son  as  the  next  heir  of  the  blood  royal, 
and  that  his  subjects  in  Surry  faithfully  submitted 
themselves  to  him  as  their  lawful  King.  This  pro- 
clamation was  made  in  the  presence  of  a  large  part  of 
the  population  of  the  county  assembled  at  the  county 
seat  in  anticipation  of  the  event ;  and  we  learn  from  the 
contemporary  records  that  it  was  received  with  loud 
and  joyful  acclamations.1  In  York,  the  same  happy 
occasion  was  celebrated  by  the  expenditure  of  one 
barrel  of  powder  in  repeated  volleys.  The  big  guns 
used  for  this  purpose  belonged  to  Captain  Fox,  who  was 
paid  a  liberal  fee  for  lending  them  to  the  county.  The 
trumpeters  must  have  preceded  and  followed  up  the 
proclamation  with  a  long  and  lively  fanfare,  for  they 
were  allowed  for  their  services  so  large  a  sum  as 
eight  hundred  pounds  of  tobacco.  One  hundred 
and  seventy-six  gallons  of  cider  were  provided  for 
the  people's  consumption  in  drinking  the  health 
of  the  King.  Nor  were  the  authorities  content  to 
furnish  fusillades,  music,  and  liquor  alone  for  the 
crowd  in  attendance:  they  also  employed  Rev. 
Philip  Mallory  to  deliver  a  sermon  in  which  the  popular 
gratitude  to  God  for  the  restoration  of  their  rightful 
Sovereign  should  be  voiced  with  the  pious  gravity  and 
dignity  worthy  of  so  memorable  an  event.2  After  this, 
whoever  dared  to  reflect  upon  the  King  or  the  royal 
government  was  severely  punished.  In  the  course  of 
the  following  year,  it  having  been  reported  to  the 
justices  of  the  same  county  that  Thomas  Cheney  had 

1  Surry  County  Records,  vol.  1645-72,  p.  164,  Va.  St.  Libr. 

2  York  County  Records,  vol.  1657-62,  p.  243,  Va.  St.  Libr. 


280  Political  Condition 

spoken  "  dangerous  and  unlawful  words"  of  his  "  sacred 
Majesty,"  he  was  promptly  arrested  for  the  offence; 
and  on  his  refusing  to  take  the  oaths  of  allegiance  and 
supremacy,  was  hurried  to  the  whipping  post  and  there 
forced  to  submit  to  thirty  lashes  administered  so  vig- 
orously that  the  blood  flowed.  It  was  afterwards 
proven  that  Cheney  was  not  responsible  for  his 
seditious  utterances  as  he  had  lost  his  reason.1 

The  loyalty  of  the  upper  ranks  among  the  Virginian 
people  was,  perhaps,  never  greater  than  during  the  first 
fourteen  years  following  the  restoration  of  the  Stuart 
dynasty;  the  reaction  which  showed  itself  to  such  a 
marked  degree  in  England  was  reflected  to  an  equal 
extent  in  every  department  of  the  Colony's  affairs. 
This  was  due  in  part  to  the  influence  of  Berkeley,  who 
carried  his  devotion  to  the  monarchy  to  a  point  not 
exceeded  in  extravagance  by  Charles's  immediate 
followers;  like  them,  he  had  made  extraordinary 
sacrifices  for  his  King;  and  when  the  King  had  come 
to  his  own,  Berkeley,  like  them  also,  was  disposed  to 
think  that  his  reward  should  be  in  proportion  to  what 
he  had  suffered.  Under  the  system  of  the  re-established 
monarchy, — all  the  political  powers  being  concentrated 
to  such  an  unprecedented  degree  in  the  hands  of  him- 
self and  the  principal  landowners, — it  was  only  natural 
that,  among  the  members  of  his  class  especially,  the 
attachment  to  the  throne  should  have  become  stronger 
than  ever  because  so  intimately  bound  up  with  their 
own  pecuniary  interests.  Nor  was  it  seriously  shaken 
by  the  cool  indifference  to  the  Colony's  welfare  shown 
by  Charles  II  in  granting  the  whole  of  Virginia  to  two 
noblemen  who  had  won  his  favor,  although  that  act 
aroused  such  emphatic  and  outspoken  opposition. 

»  York  County  Records,  vol.  1657-62,  p.  311,  Va.  St.  Libr. 


Loyalty  to  the  Throne  281 

The  agents  sent  to  England  in  1675  to  protest  against 
the  patent  to  Arlington  and  Culpeper,  and  also  to  ob- 
tain a  charter  confirming  the  rights  previously  be- 
stowed on  the  people  of  the  Colony,  declared  very  truly 
that,  during  the  whole  of  the  period  since  the  Company's 
dissolution  in  1624,  the  General  Assembly  had  never 
passed  a  law  in  derogation  of  the  royal  prerogatives.1 
"The  Virginians,"  they  asserted,  "are  and  have  ever 
been  heartily  affectionate  and  loyal  to  the  monarchy 
of  England,  and  under  that  to  their  present  govern- 
ment of  Virginia,  constituted,  they  humbly  conceive, 
in  imitation  of  it.  The  New  Englanders  have  obtained 
the  power  of  choosing  their  Governor,  but  the  Virginians 
would  not  have  that  power,  but  desire  that  their 
Governor  may  from  time  to  time  be  appointed  by  the 
King.  The  New  Englanders  imagine  great  felicity  in 
their  form  of  government,  civil  and  ecclesiastic,  under 
which  they  are  trained  up  to  disobedience  to  the  Crown 
and  Church  of  England,  but  the  Virginians  would  think 
themselves  very  unhappy  to  be  obliged  to  accept  of  and 
live  under  a  government  so  constituted,  although  they 
might  therewith  enjoy  all  the  liberties  and  privileges  the 
New  Englanders  do."  2 

Such  was  the  language  used  by  Morryson,  Ludwell, 
and  Smith  in  their  memorable  petition  to  the  King  on 
behalf  of  the  Virginian  people ;  and  perhaps  there  were 
no  other  three  citizens  of  the  Colony  who  had  been 
made  more  competent  by  long  experience  and  obser- 
vation, to  describe  the  real  characteristics  of  that  people, 
or  who  understood  more  thoroughly  the  spirit  animating 
them  in  their  attitude  towards  the  throne. 

Thomas  Ludwell,  writing  to  Lord  Arlington,  affirmed 

*  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  ii.,  p.  527. 
2  Randolph  MS.,  vol.  iii.,  p.  331. 


282  Political  Condition 

that  Bacon  and  his  followers  had  formed  "  vain  hopes  of 
taking  the  country  wholly  out  of  his  Majesty's  hands 
into  their  own."1  If  this  statement  was  justified  by 
fact  at  all,  it  was  justified  only  when  the  rebellion  had, 
by  its  own  momentum,  gone  very  much  farther  than 
Bacon  himself  had  designed  at  the  beginning  of  the 
movement.  It  is  true  that  he  urged  resistance  to  the 
royal  troops  in  the  field  should  they  be  sent  over,  but 
it  was  with  the  reservation  that  this  should  only  be 
done  provided  that  they  arrived  before  the  aggrieved 
colonists  could  lay  before  the  King  their  reasons  for 
rising.  Whatever  may  have  been  his  secret  ambition 
when  the  conflict  between  Berkeley  and  himself  had 
reached  the  last  stage  of  bitterness,  there  is  no  reliable 
evidence  to  prove  that  he  seriously  contemplated  setting 
up  a  government  in  Virginia  that  should  be  entirely 
independent  of  England.  Even  the  mere  appearance 
of  antagonizing  the  Mother  Country,  to  which  he  was 
driven  towards  the  end  of  the  insurrection,  caused 
nearly  all  those  members  of  the  higher  class  of  planters 
who  had  at  first  sympathized  with  his  aims,  to  fall  away 
from  his  side.  His  enemies'  assertion  that  his  followers 
represented  the  "scum  of  the  people"  thus  became 
substantially  true,  although  many  men  of  high  and 
noble  spirit,  like  Thomas  Hansford,  for  instance,  re- 
mained loyal  to  him  and  his  cause  until  the  last  hour. 
The  complete  termination  of  the  movement  at  his 
death  showed  that  he  alone  was  able  to  give  it  firmness 
and  confidence  at  the  extreme  stage  which  it  had  then 
reached.  It  will  always  remain  an  open  question 
whether  his  powerful  influence  could  have  held  his 
ignorant  troops  together  when  confronted  with  such 
an  unmistakable  evidence  of  their  being  looked  upon  as 

1  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1675-81,  p.  153. 


Loyalty  to  the  Throne  283 

rebels  by  the  English  Government  as  the  arrival  of 
English  regu  ars  sent  to  disperse  them  at  the  point  of 
the  bayonet. 

Throughout  the  remainder  of  the  century,  expressions 
were  in  common  use  which  disclose  the  unconscious 
loyalty  of  the  Virginians.  For  instance,  the  county 
judges  always  designated  themselves  as  "His  Majesty's 
Justices."  When,  in  1686,  William  Browne,  of  Rap- 
pahannock, blurted  out  many  "slighting  and  scurri- 
lous" words  to  show  his  contempt  for  all  forms  of 
authority,  his  language  and  conduct  were  declared  by 
the  county  court  to  be  highly  prejudicial  to  "His 
Majesty's  peace,"  and  the  high  sheriff  was  ordered, 
"in  the  name  of  His  Majesty,"  to  take  the  culprit  into 
his  custody.1  Such  was  the  ordinary  formula  in  all 
court  proceedings.  Not  infrequently  an  entry  in  the 
records  respecting  the  course  of  some  person  who  had 
been  drowned  or  had  committed  suicide  begins  with  the 
words:  "His  Majesty  having  lost  a  subject,  a  man  this 
day  being  found  dead."2  Nor  was  this  spirit  confined 
to  such  documents.  The  political  records  reveal  as 
vividly  as  the  legal  the  loyalty  of  the  Virginians; 
naturally,  it  was  there  couched  in  even  warmer  terms 
because  so  often  these  political  records  were  papers 
addressed  directly  to  the  King,  or  to  bodies,  like  the 
Privy  Council,  very  closely  associated  with  him.3 

Very  great  care  was  taken  by  the  authorities  of  the 
Colony  that  no  rumors  of  a  seditious  character  touch- 
ing the  monarchy  should  be  permitted  to  circulate. 
Whoever  happened  to  overhear  even  a  whisper  of  that 


1  Rappahannock  County  Records,  Orders  May  5,  1686.     These 
forms  were  also  used  in  England. 

2  Henrico  County  Records,  vol.  1677-92,  orig.  pp.  330,  334. 

3  British  Colonial  Papers,  vol.  lv.,  Nos.  125,  156,  I. 


284  Political  Condition 

nature  was  ordered  to  report  the  fact  to  the  nearest 
justice ;  and  all  persons  known  to  have  indulged  in  such 
a  discourse  were  arrested  and  tried  as  guilty  of  a  grave 
offence,  not  only  against  the  peace  of  the  community, 
but  also  against  the  sacred  rights  of  the  throne.  When 
the  first  report  of  Monmouth's  Rebellion  reached 
Virginia,  the  ship-masters  coming  from  England  were 
warned  against  divulging  any  information  which  might 
produce  a  feeling  of  uneasiness  and  uncertainty  in  the 
Colony  on  account  of  the  supposed  unsettled  state  of 
affairs  in  the  Mother  Country.  Full  assurance  of 
Monmouth's  capture  and  the  suppression  of  the  up- 
rising having  arrived,  a  proclamation  was  issued  di- 
recting the  people  to  observe  a  day  of  Thanksgiving  for 
so  signal  a  blessing. l  Nor  was  the  loyal  devotion  to  the 
King  confined  to  the  subservient  Howard  and  his 
Council,  whose  interests  were  so  closely  wrapped  up  in 
James's  retention  of  power  as  against  such  an  upstart 
as  his  nephew;  when,  in  1688,  news  was  brought  that  a 
Prince  of  Wales  had  been  born,  all  the  counties  appear 
to  have  responded  with  voluntary  and  unaffected 
heartiness  to  the  Governor's  command  that  a  day 
should  be  set  apart  for  celebrating  so  auspicious  an 
event.  The  justices  of  Rappahannock,  for  instance, 
gave  at  once  an  order  to  Captain  George  Taylor  to 
convey  to  the  northside  court-house  a  large  quantity  of 
rum  and  other  liquors,  with  a  proportionate  supply 
of  sugar,  for  the  use  of  the  troops  of  horse,  companies 
of  foot,  and  other  persons  who  should  assemble  on  that 
occasion.  Captain  Samuel  Bloomfield  was  to  perform 
a  like  service  in  furnishing  the  spirits  for  quenching  the 
thirst  of  those  who  should  gather  at  the  southside 
court-house  at  the  same  hour.     It  was  estimated  that 

1  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1680-95,  pp.  219,  225. 


Loyalty  to  the  Throne  285 

the  outlay  entailed  in  liquors  alone  for  this  one  county- 
would  reach  ten  thousand  pounds  of  tobacco,  a  very 
great  sum  to  expend  in  this  manner  even  at  that  early 
day.1  In  Middlesex,  Mr.  Richard  Robinson  was  al- 
lowed in  the  public  levy  about  sixteen  hundred  pounds 
of  tobacco  for  providing  wine  and  cider  for  the  celebra- 
tion of  the  birth  of  the  same  unfortunate  prince,  who 
was  hardly  born  before  his  brilliant  prospects  became 
permanently  overclouded.2 

There  are  indications,  however,  that  many  persons 
in  Virginia,  owing  to  their  disapproval  of  the  King's 
attitude  towards  the  Church  of  England,  had  begun  to 
turn  their  eyes  towards  the  Prince  of  Orange  some  time 
before  it  was  known  that  he  had  set  out  on  his  memo- 
rable expedition  to  dispossess  James  of  his  throne.  For 
instance,  in  March,  1689,  Henry  Pike,  while  drinking 
at  the  table  of  Colonel  John  Custis  the  health  of  that 
Prince,  exclaimed  as  he  raised  his  cup:  "God  save  the 
King."  This  caused  such  scandal  and  consternation 
that  he  seems  to  have  been  arrested  on  the  spot.3 
Nevertheless,  the  culprit  really  reflected  the  rapidly 
changing  sentiment  of  the  people,  who,  as  the  ecclesias- 
tical policy  of  James  became  more  clearly  understood 
by  them,  were  increasingly  disposed  to  weaken  in  their 
allegiance,  so  that  when  the  order  for  proclaiming 
William  and  Mary  King  and  Queen  arrived,  they  re- 
sponded as  a  body  with  alacrity.  In  Henrico  county, 
the  satisfaction  over  the  change  in  the  English  Govern- 
ment seems  to  have  been  practically  universal,  and  the 
event  was  celebrated  at  the  county  seat  by  the  firing  of 
guns,  the  beating  of  drums,  the  sounding  of  trumpets, 

•  Rappahannock  County  Records,  1686-92,  orig.  p.  141. 
'  Middlesex  County  Records,  Orders  Nov.  11,  1689. 
3  Northampton  County  Records,  vol.  1683-89,  p.  426. 


286  Political  Condition 

and  the  loud  and  prolonged  hurrahing  of  the  assembled 
multitude.  The  two  monarchs  had  already  been 
proclaimed  at  Jamestown,  no  doubt  with  ceremonies 
equal  in  stateliness  and  fervor  to  any  previously 
occurring  in  the  Colony's  history.1  Rappahannock, 
which,  as  we  have  seen,  had,  a  short  time  before,  hailed 
the  birth  of  a  Prince  of  Wales  with  so  much  enthusiasm, 
was  now  so  devoted  in  its  loyalty  to  the  new  King  and 
Queen  that  the  slightest  expression  in  disapproval  of 
their  accession,  or  in  criticism  of  their  actions,  was  there 
punished  with  extraordinary  severity.  Roger  Love- 
less, a  citizen  of  this  county,  who  had,  on  a  public 
occasion,  been  so  bold  as  to  drink  a  health  to  King 
James  and  death  to  King  William,  was  arrested,  and 
by  order  of  court  condemned  to  receive  at  the  whipping 
post  twenty  lashes  laid  on  with  all  the  force  which  the 
constable  could  use;  and  in  addition  was  required 
to  give  satisfactory  security  for  his  good  behavior.2 
Loveless,  it  is  evident,  occupied  an  humble  place  in  the 
community,  and  in  uttering  the  words  with  which  he 
was  charged  was  probably  animated  more  by  a  spirit 
of  bravado  than  by  any  real  attachment  to  the  cause  of 
the  deposed  monarch. 

»  Henrico  County  Records,  vol.  1688-97,  p.  48,  Va.  St.  Libr. 
i     2  Rappahannock  County  Records,  vol.  1686-92,  orig.  p.  302. 


CHAPTER  VI 
Territorial  Divisions 

AT  the  time  when  the  Colony  of  Virginia  was 
founded,  the  territorial  divisions  of  England  con- 
sisted of  the  Shire  or  County,  the  Hundred,  and 
the  Town  or  Tithing.  The  Town  or  Tithing  was  com- 
posed, as  the  name  implied,  of  ten  families ;  the  Hundred 
of  ten  times  ten;  and  the  County  of  an  indefinite 
number  of  hundreds.1  It  was  only  natural  that,  when 
the  emigrants  came  to  lay  off  territorial  divisions  in 
the  new  dominion  oversea,  the  custom  prevailing  in  the 
Mother  Country  should  have  been  adopted  as  the  one 
most  familiar  to  all  English  subjects.  In  the  begin- 
ning, before  the  settlements  had  spread  out  very  much, 
the  expectation  was  entertained  that  the  Colony's 
population  would  be  grouped  together  very  thickly; 
indeed,  it  was  not  perceived  until  some  years  later  that 
the  peculiar  demands  of  tobacco  culture  would  lead 
to  the  dispersion  of  the  inhabitants,  and  that  the 
teeming  communities  of  the  Old  World  would,  in 
consequence,  find  no  counterpart  in  Virginia.  There 
appears,  however,  to  be  no  evidence  that  the  term 
"town"  or  ' 'tithing"  was  ever  formally  applied  in  the 
Colony  to  every  ten  families;  on  the  other  hand,  the 
use  of  "hundred"  as  a  term  expressing  a  territorial 
division,  and  supposed  in  theory  at  least  to  embrace 

«  Blackstone's  Commentaries,  Book  I.,  p.  113  et  seq. 

287 


288  Political  Condition 

an  hundred  families,  was  introduced  at  a  very  early- 
date.  As  the  ground  occupied  by  an  hundred  families 
in  Virginia  was  far  more  extensive  than  the  ground 
occupied  by  the  same  number  of  families  in  England,  it 
is  quite  probable  that  the  significance  of  the  division 
from  this,  the  personal,  point  of  view  was  soon  lost,  and 
the  Hundred  came  to  be  purely  territorial,  without 
regard  to  the  number  of  its  inhabitants,  although  the 
expectation  was,  no  doubt,  indulged  that,  should  that 
number  when  the  Hundred  was  created  fall  short  of 
twice  fifty  families,  time  would  supply  the  deficiency. 
In  Virginia  at  first  as  in  England,  the  Hundred  was 
the  unit  for  judicial,  military,  and  political  purposes 
alike.  Perhaps  the  first  suggestion  of  the  Hundred  as  a 
military  division  occurred  when  Captain  Francis  West 
and  Captain  John  Martin  were  ordered  to  lead  each  one 
hundred  men,  the  one  to  the  Falls,  the  other  to  Nanse- 
mond,  there  to  make  settlements.1  The  next  Hun- 
dreds to  be  laid  off  were  established  partly  also  for 
military  purposes;  this  occurred  in  1611,  when  Dale, 
having  seized  a  wide  area  of  country  near  the  mouth  of 
the  Appomattox  River  belonging  to  the  Appomattox 
Indians  and  composed  of  champaign  and  woodland, 
divided  the  whole  tract,  after  he  had  given  it  the  general 
name  of  New  Bermudas,  into  several  Hundreds  known 
as  the  Upper  and  Nether,  Rochdale,  Digges,  and 
West  and  Shirley.2  The  Nether  Hundred  seems  to 
have  been  incorporated  under  a  formal  charter,  by  the 
terms  of  which  its  citizens  were  for  a  time  required  to 
perform  certain  duties  and  tasks,  but  were  afterwards 


1  See   Works   of  Captain  John  Smith,   Arber's  and   Richmond 
editions. 

2  Works  of  Captain  John  Smith,  vol.  ii.,  p.  12,  Richmond  edition; 
Hamor's  Discourse,  p.  31. 


Territorial  Divisions  289 

to  enjoy  their  full  freedom.  Previous,  however,  to 
acquiring  it,  they  seem  to  have  occupied  a  more  ad- 
vantageous position  than  most  of  the  colonists;  for 
instance,  they  were  legally  bound  to  work  during  only 
thirty  days  for  the  benefit  of  the  common  magazine; 
they  were  also  impowered  to  refuse  to  obey  all  calls 
for  their  services  made  during  the  time  they  were  em- 
ployed in  sowing  their  seed  or  reaping  their  harvests; 
nor  were  they  under  obligation  to  contribute  more  than 
two  and  a  half  barrels  of  corn  to  the  public  store;  nor 
could  they  be  ordered  by  the  Governor,  or  any  other 
official,  however  high  his  position,  to  give  up  their 
agricultural  pursuits,  and  follow  any  special  trade  to 
which  they  had  been  trained  in  England, — a  privilege 
of  great  moment  in  a  colony  where  artisans  were  so  few 
in  number  that  there  was  a  constant  disposition  on  the 
part  of  persons  in  authority  to  force  them  to  devote 
themselves  exclusively  to  meeting  the  crying  mechanical 
needs  of  the  community.  Even  Argoll,  a  Governor  who 
seems  to  have  been  only  too  arbitrary  and  unscrupu- 
lous in  spirit,  was  disinclined  to  trample  on  the  rights 
possessed  by  the  inhabitants  of  this  Hundred,  but  this 
may  have  been  because  he  was  enrolled  among  its 
citizens  himself;  when  the  inhabitants  of  the  Bermuda 
Hundreds  protested  against  the  order  he  had  given  to 
Captain  Madison  to  clear  West  and  Shirley  Hundred  of 
wood,  he  acknowledged  as  just  the  claim  to  its  owner- 
ship put  forward  by  them;  and  assured  them  that,  as 
belonging  to  the  Bermuda  Hundreds  himself,  he  would 
not  knowingly  or  willingly  infringe  on  their  privileges.1 

*  See  for  details  about  the  Bermuda  Hundreds,  Rolfe's  ' '  Relation  ' ' 
in  Va.  Hist.  Register,  vol.  iii.,  No.  i,  p.  109;  Works  of  Captain  John 
Smith,  vol.  iu,  p.  12,  Richmond  edition;  Randolph  MS.,  vol.  iii., 
pp.  140,  142. 


290  Political  Condition 

Perhaps  the  most  important  use  made  of  the  term 
"  Hundred  "  in  the  early  history  of  Virginia  occurred  in 
connection  with  the  numerous  associations  establishing 
large  communities  of  new  settlers  at  various  places  in 
its  territory.  Most  of  these  associations  or  societies, 
although  of  a  private  character,  were  deeply  interested 
in  the  success  of  the  general  enterprise,  and  sought  to 
advance  its  prosperity  by  increasing  the  population  at 
their  own  expense;  each  seems  to  have  sent  over  a 
considerable  number  of  persons,  who  were  seated 
within  the  bounds  of  a  tract  previously  patented;  this 
tract  at  once  acquired  the  name  of  "  Hundred  " ;  and  as 
such  continued  to  be  designated  for  many  years  after 
the  association  or  society  originally  owning  it  had  been 
dissolved.  One  of  the  earliest  of  the  tracts  to  be  thus 
taken  up  was  Southampton  Hundred.  This  Hundred, 
known  at  first  as  Smythe's  Hundred,  in  honor  of  Sir 
Thomas  Smythe,  spread  over  as  wide  an  area  of  ground 
as  eighty  thousand  acres.  Among  other  Hundreds  of 
the  same  character  were  Stanley's  and  Lawne's. 
Christopher  Lawne,  in  1619,  transported  to  the  Colony 
one  hundred  settlers,  whom  he  established  at  Warros- 
quoik.  Berkeley's  Hundred  seems  to  have  been  founded 
in  a  similar  manner.  The  only  Hundred  of  any  kind 
laid  off  on  the  Eastern  Shore  was  St.  George's,  which, 
like  Fleur  de  Hundred  and  the  Bermuda,  continued  to 
be  a  purely  local  designation  long  after  its  territorial 
and  personal  significance  had  passed  away.1 

*  Northampton  County  Records,  Orders  July  28,  1645.  *n 
February,  1619-20,  the  Quarter  Court  in  England  passed  an  order 
that  all  the  leaders  or  captains  of  particular  plantations  who  had 
gone  thither  to  establish  themselves,  their  tenants,  and  servants 
there,  should  enjoy  the  right,  "until  a  form  of  government  be  there 
settled,  to  associate  unto  them  the  discretest  of  their  companions 
to  make  ordinances  and  constitutions  for  the  better  directing  of 


Territorial  Divisions  291 

The  Hundred,  during  the  first  years  of  the  Colony's 
history,  was  also  used  as  a  unit  for  judicial  purposes. 
There  was  passed,  in  1624,  an  Act  providing  that  courts 
should  be  established  in  Charles  City  and  Elizabeth 
City.  The  county  had  not  yet  been  created,  and  "  city' ' 
was  a  term  to  a  certain  extent  convertible  with  "  Hun- 
dred." These  courts,  as  has  been  pointed  out  already, 
were  conducted  by  the  commander  of  the  district  as- 
sociated with  a  certain  number  of  commissioners 
nominated  by  the  Governor. 

The  words  "hundred,"  "city,"  and  "plantation" 
seem  to  have  been  included  in  the  term  "  borough  "  for 
political  purposes.  Under  the  system  prevailing  at 
this  time  in  England,  the  citizens  of  each  borough  who 
owned  property,  paid  taxes,  and  could  cast  a  vote, 
were  known  as  Burgesses.  As  the  first  Assembly  to 
meet  in  Virginia  was  composed  of  men  representing  the 
boroughs  into  which,  as  we  shall  see,  the  Colony  was 
now  laid  off,  they  were  designated  as  Burgesses,  a 
name  the  members  of  the  House  continued  to  bear 
throughout  the  colonial  period. 

When  the  first  General  Assembly  came  together  in 
16 1 9,  the  Colony  was  already  divided  into  four  great 
corporations,  known  respectively  by  the  names  of 
James  City,  Charles  City,  Henrico,  and  Kikotan.  The 
country  belonging  to  James  City  extended  on  both 
sides  of  the  river  and  embraced  within  its  limits  almost 
the  same  area  of  ground  as  now  makes  up  the  counties 
of  Warwick,  James  City,  Isle  of  Wight,  and  Surry. 
Charles  City  hugged  the  line  of  James  River  from  the 
modern  Jones'  Neck  to  the  mouth  of  the  Chickahominy. 

their  servants  and  business,  but  these  regulations  must  not  be  con- 
trary to  the  laws  of  England";  see  Minutes  of  Quarter  Court  for 
Febr'y  2,  16x9,  Neill's  Va.  Co.  of  London,  p.  129. 


292  Political  Condition 

Henrico  began  at  Farrar's  Island,  the  whole  of  which  it 
took  in,  and  from  thence  spread  on  both  sides  of  the 
stream  westward.  Finally,  Kikotan  embraced  the 
reach  of  country  situated  between  the  southern  boun- 
dary of  James  City  and  the  Bay.  The  Eastern  Shore, 
at  first  known  as  the  "  Kingdom  of  Accawmacke,,, 
does  not  seem  to  have  belonged  to  any  one  of  these 
four  great  corporations.1 

It  was  originally  intended  that  each  corporation 
should  possess  a  capital  town  of  its  own;  this  for  Kikotan 
was  to  be  Elizabeth  City;  for  James  City,  Jamestown; 
for  Charles  City,  City  Point;  and  for  Henrico,  Henricop- 
olis.2  Jamestown  alone  grew  to  be  a  place  of  impor- 
tance, not  from  the  size  of  its  population,  but  from  the 
fact  that,  throughout  the  Seventeenth  century,  it  was 
the  seat  of  the  Colony's  general  administration.  Each 
of  the  four  corporations  was  divided  into  boroughs 
according  to  the  number  of  its  inhabitants.  Henrico 
and  Kikotan,  not  being  so  thickly  settled,  were  re- 
spectively laid  off  into  one  borough;  James  City,  on 
the  other  hand,  was  divided  into  four  boroughs;  and 
Charles  City  into  five.3  Each  borough  represented 
the  incorporation  into  one  of  all  the  towns,  hundreds, 
and  plantations  situated  within  its  boundaries.  The 
entire  number  of  boroughs  were  governed  by  the  same 
laws  and  regulations. 

Situated  in  the  midst  of  these  boroughs  was  a  large 
tract  of  land  which  Captain  John  Martin  had  acquired 
under  a  patent  allowing  him  within  its  boundaries 
certain  special  privileges  and  exemptions.4     He  even 

1  Brown's  First  Republic,  p.  313. 

2  Tyler's  Cradle  of  the  Republic,  p.  115. 

3  Brown's  First  Republic,  p.  313. 

4  For  several  years,  Martin  had  held  an  important  command, 


Territorial  Divisions  293 

went  so  far  as  to  assert  that,  by  the  terms  of  his  patent, 
the  inhabitants  of  this  tract  were  not  subject  to  the 
orders  and  regulations  which  the  Company,  in  16 18, 
had  instructed  Governor  Yeardley  to  enforce,  with  per- 
fect equality  and  uniformity,  throughout  the  Colony; 
and  that  they  were  not  even  required  to  submit  to  any 
Acts  which  the  General  Assembly  itself  might  see  fit 
to  pass.  The  clause  quoted  by  him  in  support  of  this 
extraordinary  claim  declared  that  "it  should  be 
lawful  for  Captain  Martin  to  govern  and  command  all 
such  persons  as  he  should  carry  over  with  him,  or  should 
be  sent  him  hereafter,  free  from  any  command  of  the 
Colony,  except  it  be  in  aiding  same  against  any  enemy.' ' 
When  the  first  Assembly  convened,  the  Burgesses 
chosen  from  Martin's  Hundred,  as  the  grant  was  known, 
were  not  suffered  to  take  their  seats,  on  the  ground 
that  this  Hundred  had  no  right  to  elect  separate 
representatives.  Martin  protested,  but  the  Company 
declined  to  sustain  him  when  he  appealed  to  it  in 
England.  That  body  seems  even  to  have  taken  away 
his  patent ;  but  promised  to  restore  it  on  condition  that 
he  should  abandon  his  claim  to  special  privileges;  and 
to  this,  after  a  long  and  bitter  struggle,  he  was  com- 
pelled to  yield.  It  would  appear  that  he  had  given 
much  umbrage  by  making  the  territory  embraced  in  his 
grant  a  refuge  for  persons  hopelessly  in  debt,  and  by 
declining  to  permit  their  arrest ;  and  the  same  right  of 
asylum  was  also  extended  to  other  persons  of  evil 

when,  in  1616,  he  received,  as  a  reward  for  his  services,  ten  shares 
of  land.  It  was  owing  to  the  King  that  his  patent  to  this  land  was 
accompanied  by  such  extraordinary  privileges.  Argoll  protested 
against  the  conference  of  these  privileges,  but  fear  of  offending 
James  seems  to  have  prevented  any  step  from  being  taken  at  this 
time  to  deprive  Martin  of  them;  see  Va.  Maga.  of  Hist,  and  Biog., 
vol.  vii.,  pp.  268-74. 


294  Political  Condition 

reputation.  The  officers  who  had  come  to  take  them 
into  custody  were  threatened,  should  they  refuse  to 
leave,  with  the  alternative  of  lying  neck  and  heels  in 
the  place  of  public  punishment.1 

In  1634,  the  Colony  was  laid  off  into  eight  large 
shires.  This  was  the  final  step  in  the  plan  which  Dale 
had  in  mind,  in  161 1,  when  he  established  the  Bermuda 
Hundreds,  and  the  Company,  in  16 18,  when  they 
divided  the  four  great  corporations  into  boroughs. 
With  the  erection  of  the  shire  or  county,  Virginia's 
resemblance  to  the  Mother  Country  in  its  territorial 
designations  was  completed, — only  that  the  Hundred 
had  become  wholly  nominal,  owing  to  the  wide  disper- 
sion of  the  population  under  the  influence  of  the  plan- 
tation system.  When  provision  was  made  for  the 
creation  of  the  shires,  it  was  distinctly  stated  that  they 
were  to  be  governed  after  the  manner  followed  in 
England  during  so  many  centuries;  there  was  to  be  a 
Lieutenant  or  Commander  of  each  shire  as  in  the 
Mother  County,  and  he  was  to  be  appointed  just  as  he 
was  there ;  each  shire  was  also  to  have  its  own  sheriff, 
to  be  nominated  in  the  like  way;  and  each  was  also,  by 
the  same  Act,  impowered  to  have  its  own  sergeant  and 
bailiff.  The  names  bestowed  on  the  new  shires  were 
James  City,  Charles  City,  Elizabeth  City,  Henrico, 
Warwick  River,  Warrosquoick,  Charles  River,  and 
Accomac.2  Each  was  divided  into  parishes,  precincts 
or  boroughs  for  the  constables,  and  precincts  or  walks 
for  the  surveyors  of  the  highways.  It  is  evident  from 
this  that  neither  the  Hundred  nor  the  Town  or  Tithing, 


*  British  Colonial  Papers,  vol.  Hi.,  No.  36  I;  see  also  Colonial 
Records  of  Va.,  State  Senate  Doct.  Extra,  1874,  p.  18. 

2  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  i.f  p.  224;  Randolph  MS.,  vol.  iii.,  pp. 
235-6. 


Territorial  Divisions  295 

which  were  among  the  oldest  of  all  the  English  territorial 
divisions,  was  recognized  when  the  Colony  was  thus 
laid  off;  and  the  reason  given  was  that  such  minor 
divisions  were  only  called  for  in  a  thickly  settled 
country.1  The  division  into  shires  or  counties, 
parishes,  and  precincts,  was  kept  up  throughout  the 
remaining  years  of  the  century.2 

At  first,  in  laying  off  a  new  county,  the  chief  con- 
sideration was  to  bring  all  its  extremities  as  near  as 
possible  to  one  common  centre.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
chief  consideration  at  a  later  period  seems  to  have  been 
to  restrict  the  area  of  the  proposed  county  to  the  valley 
of  one  great  river,  which  would  furnish  to  all  the  new 
county's  citizens  convenient  means  of  shipping,  with- 
out their  having  to  turn  to  any  other  great  stream 
situated  in  an  entirely  different  county.3  From  a 
trading  point  of  view,  each  county  was  thus  made 
practically  independent  of  its  neighbors. 

By  whom  were  new  counties  formed?  As  early  as 
1655,  the  General  Assembly  is  found  giving  an  order 
to  three  commissioners  of  Nansemond  and  Isle  of 
Wight  respectively  to  come  together  for  the  purpose 
of  agreeing  finally  upon  the  boundaries  of  those  two 
counties,  about  which  there  seems  to  have  been  a 
serious  dispute;  and  they  were  directed  to  report  their 
conclusions  to  the  next  Assembly.4  In  1669,  when  the 
question  of  dividing  Lower  Norfolk  was  under  advise- 
ment, the  same  body,  having  first  decided  to  refer  the 

1  See  letter  of  Thomas  Ludwell  to  Arlington  in  1666,  British 
Colonial  Papers,  vol.  xx.,  Ncs.  125,  125  I. 

2  Beverley's  History  of  Virginia,  p.  192. 
•  Ibuk 

4  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  i.,  p.  405.  Hening,  in  a  note,  states 
that,  previous  to  1644-5,  tne  power  of  forming  counties  was  vested 
in  the  Governor  and  Council;  see  Hening's  Statutes,  p.  294. 


296  Political  Condition 

matter  to  the  vote  of  the  inhabitants  for  determination, 
instructed  the  justices  to  appoint  a  date  for  them  to 
meet,  and  also  to  select  a  convenient  place, — both  the 
date  and  the  polling  place  to  be  announced  at  least 
two  Sundays  beforehand  from  the  pulpit  of  every 
church  and  chapel-of-ease  situated  in  the  county. 1 

It  would  appear,  from  this  instance,  that,  whenever 
it  was  proposed  that  an  old  county  should  be  laid  off 
into  two  new  counties,  the  General  Assembly,  which 
really  possessed  the  power  of  making  the  division 
without  consulting  the  inhabitants,  nevertheless  was 
in  the  habit  of  leaving  the  question  to  their  suffrages 
as  the  persons  whose  welfare  was  most  deeply  involved. 
If,  on  the  other  hand,  the  new  county  was  one  which 
had  to  be  carved  out  of  an  area  of  country  lying  to- 
wards the  frontier,  and  only  recently  settled,  then  there 
is  no  reason  to  think  that  this  body  deemed  it  necessary 
to  find  out  its  people's  wishes  as  to  whether  a  new 
county  should  be  formed  or  not ;  the  only  point  to  be 
determined  here  was  as  to  whether  this  area  was  oc- 
cupied by  a  sufficient  population  to  bear  the  expenses 
certain  to  arise  after  the  county  was  organized.  The 
task  of  defining  the  exact  limits  of  a  new  county  estab- 
lished on  the  frontier  was,  no  doubt,  performed  by 
specially  chosen  commissioners,  the  course  followed, 
as  we  have  seen,  whenever  an  old  county  was  divided 
in  consequence  of  the  increase  in  the  number  of  its 
inhabitants;  but,  in  each  instance,  the  commissioners' 
reports  had  to  be  approved  by  the  General  Assembly 
before  they  could  be  accepted  as  legally  conclusive. 

Every  county  situated  on  the  western  frontier  was 
regarded  as  having  an  indefinite  extension  into  the 
unknown  forests  stretching  apparently  without  a  limit 

*  Lower  Norfolk  County  Records,  vol.  1666-75,  p.  77*. 


Territorial  Divisions  297 

towards  the  setting  sun.  In  the  beginning,  such 
counties  as  Stafford,  New  Kent,  and  Henrico  had  no 
western  boundaries;  and  both  Stafford  and  Henrico 
continued  to  have  none  even  down  to  the  close  of  the 
Seventeenth  century.  This  was  the  case  with  Norfolk 
county  also  after  Lower  Norfolk  had  been  divided 
into  the  counties  of  Norfolk  and  Princess  Anne.  Whilst 
the  counties  lying  in  the  heart  of  the  Colony  never 
covered  a  very  broad  area,  the  process  of  subdivision 
went  steadily  on  almost  from  the  year  when  the  eight 
original  shires  were  created.  The  progress  of  this 
subdivision  among  the  old  counties  was,  in  fact,  far 
more  rapid  than  the  progress  of  the  creation  of  new 
counties  on  the  frontier;  indeed,  it  was  not  until  many 
years  had  passed  after  the  opening  of  the  Eighteenth 
century  that  the  line  of  original  counties  reached  the 
foot-hills  of  the  Blue  Ridge,  although,  as  the  crow  flies, 
from  the  great  falls  in  the  James  and  Rappahannock, 
the  distance  hardly  exceeds  a  journey  of  two  days  by 
horseback.  The  comparative  slowness  with  which 
counties  were  formed  to  the  west  of  these  great  falls  is 
attributable  to  the  absence  in  those  parts  at  that  date 
of  all  means  of  transporting  crops.  The  planters 
throughout  the  Seventeenth  century  were  dependent 
upon  the  streams  for  the  removal  of  their  tobacco, 
and  when  the  settlements  had  reached  the  falls,  the 
disposition  of  the  growing  population  then  was  rather 
to  spread  over  the  vacant  spaces  in  the  existing  counties 
accessible  to  the  chief  rivers  than  to  push  forward  into 
a  country  without  navigable  arteries  communicating 
with  the  Colony's  markets.  There  is  perhaps  no 
more  remarkable  illustration  of  the  part  which  the 
great  rivers  played  in  Virginia's  development  during 
this  century  than  the  fact  that,  from  the  foundation  of 


298  Political  Condition 

Henricopolis  on  Farrar's  Island  in  161 1  until  the  close 
of  1700,  the  country  west  of  the  falls  in  the  James, 
where  the  modern  city  of  Richmond  stands,  was  known 
as  the  World's  End.  Here  the  navigable  waters 
stopped,  and  apparently  no  serious  attempt  was  made 
to  settle  the  waste  of  woodland  beyond  until  the 
Huguenots'  arrival  at  the  end  of  the  century.  It  was 
as  if  that  wide  reach  of  forest  lying  between  the  moun- 
tains and  the  points  in  the  great  streams  reached  by 
the  pulse  of  the  ocean  tides  was  haunted  by  dragons 
resentful  of  all  intrusion  into  those  dim  and  silent 
shades  where  they  had  dwelt  immemorially.  When 
Spotswood  and  his  light-hearted  companions  in  the 
following  century  set  out  on  their  adventurous  expe- 
dition towards  the  Blue  Ridge,  they  looked  upon  them- 
selves very  properly  as  about  to  explore  a  land  trodden 
only  by  bands  of  savages,  herds  of  buffalo,  and  prowling 
wolves,  bears,  and  panthers,  although,  for  an  hundred 
years  or  more,  Englishmen  had  been  living  almost  in 
sight  of  the  highest  peaks  of  the  chain.  Such  was  the 
influence  of  the  country's  configuration  upon  the 
spread  of  its  population!  Such  the  impression  of 
the  great  rivers  upon  its  economic  development! 

One  of  the  most  conspicuous  evidences  of  the  Vir- 
ginians' loyalty  to  the  throne  and  the  Mother  Country 
during  the  Seventeenth  century  is  found  in  the  names 
then  given  to  the  different  counties.  Of  the  eight 
original  shires,  only  two  bore  names  drawn  from  Indian 
sources,  and  in  time  both  of  these  were  dropped, 
although  "  Accomac  "  was  readopted  when  Northamp- 
ton was  laid  off  into  two  counties.  James  City 
and  Charles  City  were  named  in  honor  of  James  I  and 
Charles  I,  Elizabeth  City  of  Princess  Elizabeth,  and 
Henrico  of  Prince  Henry,  her  brother.    At  a  later  date, 


Territorial  Divisions  299 

York,  Lower  and  Upper  Norfolk,  Isle  of  Wight,  New- 
Kent,  Westmoreland,  Northumberland,  Middlesex, 
Gloucester,  Surry,  Lancaster,  Stafford,  and  Essex,  all 
reflected  in  their  names  an  affectionate  recollection 
of  the  great  territorial  divisions  of  England  in  which 
so  large  a  proportion  of  the  Colony's  inhabitants  had 
first  drawn  breath,  and  is  an  additional  proof  of  the 
eagerness  of  the  Virginians  of  these  early  times  to 
identify  their  new  homes  as  far  as  possible  with  the  old 
oversea.  When  Lower  Norfolk  county  was  divided, 
the  General  Assembly  conferred  on  the  new  county  the 
name  "  Princess  Anne  "  in  honor  of  the  heiress  to  the 
English  throne.  Nansemond  and  Rappahannock  alone 
of  Indian  names  were,  as  designations  of  counties, 
retained  for  many  years  following  the  time  they  were 
given;  and  this  was  due  chiefly  to  the  fact  that  these 
counties  were  named  after  the  streams  on  which  they 
were  situated.  Had  there  been  any  disposition  to 
adopt  an  Indian  name  independently  of  a  purely  local 
influence,  it  is  probable  that  Pocahontas  would  have 
been  chosen,  as  that  princess  had  many  descendants 
in  the  Colony. 


CHAPTER  VII 
The  Governor:  His  Appointment 

THE  foremost  officer  of  the  Colony  was  the  Gover- 
nor. How  was  he  appointed  ?  In  the  general 
instructions  drawn  up  in  1606  by  the  King,  it 
was  provided  that  the  President  of  the  Council — who, 
under  the  first  charter,  performed  all  the  duties  of 
chief  executive — should  be  chosen  from  among  the 
members  of  that  body  by  a  majority  of  their  votes; 
and  the  only  restriction  placed  upon  their  freedom  of 
selection  was  that  they  should  not  advance  a  clergy- 
man to  the  position.  The  first  political  act  recorded 
in  the  history  of  Virginia  was  the  administration  of  the 
oaths  to  the  Councillors,  and  the  second,  the  promotion 
of  Edward  Maria  Wingfield  to  the  Presidency.1  No 
President  could  succeed  himself  immediately,  but  could 
be  re-elected  after  the  intermission  of  one  term.  This 
regulation  was  sometimes  evaded  by  means  of  an  open 
subterfuge;  for  instance,  when  Captain  John  Smith's 
first  term  expired,  Captain  Martin  was  chosen  in  his 
place,  but  on  his  resigning  at  the  end  of  three  hours' 
incumbency,  Smith  was  again  elected.2 

It  was  not  until  1609, — the  second  charter  having  in 
the  meanwhile  been  granted, — that  the  head  of  the 
political  administration  in  Virginia  ceased  to  be  spoken 

*  Brown's  First  Republic,  p.  27. 

2  Works  of  Captain  John  Smith,  vol.  i.,  p.  236,  Richmond  edition. 

300 


The  Governor  :  His  Appointment     301 

of  as  President ;  he  then  came  to  be  known  as  Governor, 
— a  name  retained  throughout  the  remaining  years 
of  colonial  history.  The  choice  of  the  executive  was 
now  the  exclusive  right  of  the  London  Company.  The 
first  person  elected  to  the  office  by  that  corporation 
was  Lord  De  la  Warr,  who  was  associated  with  Sir 
Thomas  Gates  as  Lieut. -Governor,  Sir  George  Summers 
as  Admiral,  and  Captain  Newport  as  Vice- Admiral. 
Gates's  arrival  at  Jamestown  preceded  De  la  Warr's  in 
time,  and  as  De  la  Warr's  deputy,  he  was  the  first  man 
to  perform  the  duties  of  the  Governorship  in  Virginia 
under  that  specific  designation,  although,  as  we  have 
seen,  Wingfield  and  his  immediate  successors  had 
performed  the  same  duties  under  the  name  of  President. 
By  the  provisions  of  the  Ordinances  and  Constitu- 
tions of  1 61 9  and  1620,  the  Governor  and  Lieut  .-Gov- 
ernor were  always  to  be  nominated  and  appointed  by  the 
members  of  the  Company  assembled  in  a  quarter  court. x 
When  the  Company's  charter  was  revoked  in  1624,  the 
right  to  choose  these  officers  reverted  to  the  King. 
The  bestowal  of  the  Governorship  now  became  so  depen- 
dent upon  personal  favor  that  petitions  to  the  throne 
for  the  purpose  of  securing  it  were  not  unknown ;  such 
was  the  manner  in  which  Henry  Woodhouse,  muster- 
master  of  Suffolk,  sought  to  obtain  it  in  1634,  although, 
at  this  time,  Harvey  was  occupying  the  position.  The 
latter 's  term,  however,  was  now  drawing  to  a  Sj  fl| 
The  King  retained  the  right  of  appointment  untuTne 
overthrow  of  the  Monarchy.  In  the  agreement  between 
the  Commissioners  of  Parliament  and  the  General 
Assembly  in  March,  165 1-2,  it  was  expressly  declared 

1  Ordinances  and  Constitutions,  1619,  1620,  p.  19,  Force's  Hist. 
Tracts,  vol.  iii. 

2  British  Colonial  Papers,  vol.  viii.,  No.  24. 


302  Political  Condition 

that  the  "former  government  by  commission  and 
instructions  was  null  and  void."  During  the  period  of 
the  Commonwealth,  the  Governor  was  chosen  by  the 
voice  of  the  House  of  Burgesses,  which,  on  one  occasion, 
took  the  shape  of  a  mere  resolution ;  on  another,  of  a 
formal  Act.1  This  power  was  derived  from  the  terms 
obtained  at  the  time  of  the  surrender2 ;  but  it  does  not 
appear  to  have  gone  entirely  unquestioned,  for,  in  1657, 
the  English  Council  of  State  requested  Cromwell  to 
send  out  to  Virginia,  to  serve  as  its  Governor,  whatever 
person  seemed  to  him  to  be  best  fitted  to  fill  the  office. 
At  this  time,  the  Colony  was  in  an  unsettled  condition, 
and  the  Council  believed  that  this  was  the  only  sure 
means  of  allaying  the  prevailing  distractions.3  In 
such  an  emergency,  the  agreement  between  the  Com- 
missioners of  Parliament  and  the  inhabitants  adopted 
some  years  before,  was  not  likely  to  be  treated  by  the 
English  Government  with  strict  respect. 

As  soon  as  news  reached  Virginia  that  the  Common- 
wealth was  at  an  end,  Sir  William  Berkeley,  as  already 
stated,  with  great  energy  and  promptness  resumed  the 
office  of  Governor,  apparently  at  the  moment  under  the 
authority  of  his  original  commission,  which  in  theory 
had  remained  unrevoked  by  anything  occurring  during 
the  period  of  the  usurpation  in  England.  This  decisive 
step  on  his  part  was  soon  confirmed  by  the  action  of  the 
al  Assembly;  and  it  was  not  many  months  before 
as  formally  reappointed  by  royal  commission.4 
From  this  time  until  the  close  of  the  century,  each 


•  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  i.,  pp.  358,  516,  517,  529. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  431. 

3  Interregnum  Entry  Book,  vol.  cvi.,  p.  358. 

*  See  Warrant  to  Attorney-General,    British    Colonial  Papers, 
vol.  xiv.,  1660. 


The  Governor  :  His  Appointment     303 

Governor  in  succession  owed  his  nomination  to  the 
King's  favor  alone,  and  popular  influence  in  the  Colony- 
had  no  longer,  as  during  the  interval  of  the  Protectorate, 
any  weight  in  his  selection.  The  precedent  established 
during  that  interval  ceased  to  have  any  legal  impor- 
tance; and  the  Governor,  having  become  again  the 
foremost  representative  of  the  Crown,  as  such  occupied 
a  position  entirely  independent  of  the  Assembly  from  a 
political  point  of  view. 

There  were  three  ways  in  which  a  vacancy  in  the 
office  of  Governor  could  be  brought  about : — first,  by 
his  voluntary  resignation;  secondly,  by  his  forcible 
removal;  and,  thirdly,  by  his  death.  The  only  in- 
stance of  voluntary  resignation  recorded  was  that  of 
Captain  Martin,  who,  as  already  stated,  remained 
President  only  three  hours.  During  the  period  when 
the  Colony's  affairs  were  administered  under  the 
provisions  of  the  charter  of  1606,  the  earliest  to  be 
granted,  the  Council  was  impowered  to  displace,  by 
the  vote  of  a  majority  of  its  members,  the  Governor 
should  there  be  just  ground  for  taking  such  summary 
action  against  him.  As  we  have  seen,  both  Wingfield 
and  Ratcliffe  were  deposed  under  the  authority  of  this 
law.1  In  September,  1607,  Wingfield  was  summoned 
to  appear  before  the  new  President  and  Council,  and  not 
until  then  were  the  reasons  for  his  removal  disclosed  to 
him.  A  formal  indictment  embodying  all  the  accusa- 
tions against  him  having  been  read  in  his  hearing  by 
the  Recorder,  Gabriel  Archer,  he  demanded  a  copy  of 
this  document  and  sufficient  time  in  which  to  reply  to 
its  various  charges;  but  neither  request  was  complied 
with.     When  asked  to  whom  would  he  appeal,  he 

*  Brown's  First  Republic,  p.  27;  Works  of  Captain  John  Smith, 
vol.  i.,  p.  192,  Richmond  edition. 


304  Political  Condition 

answered,  "To  the  King,"  on  whose  mercy  he  threw 
himself;  he  was  then  committed  as  a  prisoner  to  the 
pinnace  lying  in  the  river  at  Jamestown ;  and  was  only 
allowed  to  go  on  shore  on  Sunday  at  the  hour  of 
religious  services.1 

Argoll,  aware  of  the  anger  felt  by  the  Company 
towards  himself  on  account  of  his  arbitrary  conduct, 
and  expecting  the  early  arrival  of  Yeardley,  appointed 
as  his  successor,  took  ship  and  stole  away  from  the 
Colony.  Harvey  was  removed  by  the  vote  of  his  own 
Council;  but  as  this  action  was  deemed  seditious  by 
the  English  Government,  he  was  reinstated  in  office. 
Berkeley  was  displaced  by  the  surrender  to  Parliament, 
and  was  only  restored  to  his  old  position  after  the 
fall  of  the  Commonwealth.  Culpeper,  for  returning  to 
England  without  leave,  was  threatened  with  forcible 
removal  from  the  Governorship  unless  he  went  back  to 
Virginia  and  resumed  the  performance  of  its  duties;  and 
this  he  had  the  discretion  to  do. 

Both  before  and  after  the  revocation  of  the  London 
Company's  letters-patent,  special  provision  was  made 
for  filling  a  vacancy  in  the  Governorship  caused  by  the 
death  of  the  incumbent.  As  early  as  162 1,  Wyatt 
received  instructions  to  impower  the  members  of  his 
Council  to  choose  a  successor  to  himself  within  fourteen 
days  after  his  decease,  should  he  die  in  office.  If  the 
number  of  votes  cast  for  each  of  two  opposing  candi- 
dates was  equal,  then  the  Lieut. -Governor  was  to  take 
the  place  of  the  late  Governor;  and  if  there  was  no 
Lieut  .-Governor,  then  the  Marshal ;  and  if  there  was  also 
no  Marshal ,  then  the  Treasurer. 2   Whoever  assumed  the 

»  See  Wingfield's  Discourse  of  Virginia  in  Arber's  edition  of  the 
Works  of  Captain  John  Smith. 

2  Instructions  to  Wyatt,  1621,  Randolph  MS.,  vol.  iii.,  p.  163. 


The  Governor  :  His  Appointment     305 

position  under  these  circumstances  was  to  hold  it  only 
until  the  Company  or  the  Crown,  whichever  at  the  time 
was  in  control,  should  make  a  permanent  appointment. 
When,  in  1627,  Yeardley  died,  the  Council  met  the  day 
after  that  event,  and  by  a  majority  of  voices  selected 
Francis  West  to  fill  the  vacancy.  The  new  Governor 
at  once  wrote  to  the  English  authorities  to  inform  them 
of  his  accession. *  It  appears  that,  in  a  letter  addressed 
to  the  Commissioners  nominated  to  settle  the  affairs 
of  Virginia,  Charles  I  had  designated  Harvey  as  Yeard- 
ley's  successor  in  case  of  the  latter' s  death;  and  it  was 
only  in  the  contingency  that  the  former  also  should  die 
that  the  Council  were  to  possess  the  right  to  choose 
a  new  Governor.  As  they  proceeded  so  quickly  to 
supply  the  vacancy,  it  is  to  be  inferred  that  Harvey 
was  not  at  the  time  residing  in  the  Colony.2  When  he 
himself  was  deposed,  the  Councillors,  on  examining  his 
commission,  found  that  they  were  impowered  by  its 
terms  to  name  his  successor,  should  the  necessity  of 
filling  the  position  arise.  Quietly  waiting  until  they 
knew  positively  that  the  ship  transporting  him  to 
England  had  passed  out  of  the  Capes,  the  Councillors 
then  proceeded  to  nominate  John  West,  who,  from 
Point  Comfort,  where  he  had  probably  been  watch- 
ing the  departing  vessel,  informed  the  Commis- 
sioners of  Plantations  of  his  promotion.3  When 
Harvey  returned  to  the  Colony,  the  new  commission 
which  he  brought  with  him  conferred  on  his  Coun- 
cil a  like  power  of  election  in  case  of  his  death 
during  his  term  of  office;  and  the  same  power  was 

1  See  letter  dated  Dec.  20,  1627,  British  Colonial  Papers,  vol. 
iv.,  No.  34. 

2  Randolph  MS.,  vol.  iii.,  p.  195. 

3  See  West's  Letter  in  British  Colonial  Papers,  vol.  ix.,  No.  7. 


306  Political  Condition 

repeated  in  the  instructions  given  to  Wyatt  some 
years  afterwards.1 

The  succession  to  the  Governorship  in  case  the 
incumbent  either  resigned,  was  removed,  or  died,  was 
fixed  by  royal  instructions  in  1679  as  follows: — first, 
the  Lieut.-Governor,  and  in  this  provision  the  Deputy- 
Governor  was,  no  doubt,  included;  secondly,  the  Sec- 
retary of  the  Colony;  and  thirdly,  the  Major-General 
in  command  of  all  the  military  forces. 2  This  regulation 
seems  to  have  been  occasionally  extended  by  the 
terms  of  a  particular  commission;  that  of  Howard,  for 
instance,  prescribed  that,  in  case  he  died  while  in 
office,  at  a  time  when  there  was  no  one  at  hand  author- 
ized under  the  general  rule  to  assume  the  position,  its 
duties  should  be  performed  by  the  Council  acting  as  one 
body.3  As  we  will  soon  see,  this  in  practice  signified 
that  the  President  of  the  Council,  or  its  oldest  member, 
was  to  undertake  these  duties,  with  the  assistance  of 
at  least  five  of  his  associates.4 

Should  there  be  a  Lieut.-Governor  residing  in  the 
Colony  at  the  time  when  the  Governor  was  compelled 
to  be  absent  from  Virginia  temporarily,  he  at  once 
assumed  all  the  powers  and  duties  of  the  place.  In 
some  cases,  he  filled  the  position  from  the  beginning  to 
the  end  of  the  Governor's  term  simply  because  the 
Governor  himself,  being  unwilling  to  leave  England, 
had  obtained  permission  to  transfer  the  office  on 
condition  of  his  sharing  the  salary  and  other  emolu- 
ments with  the  actual  incumbent.     In  January,  1689- 


*  Patent  Roll  12  Car.  I.,  Part  21,  No.  I.;  British  Colonial  Entry 
Book,  1606-62,  p.  216. 

2  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1672-81,  p.  365. 

3  Ibid.,  1685-90,  p.  19. 

4  Beverley's  History  of  Virginia,  p.  187 


The  Governor  :  His  Appointment     307 

90,  Nicholson,  who  had  been  appointed  Lieut  .-Governor 
under  Howard,  received  Howard's  commission  and 
instructions  for  his  guidance  in  as  forma'l  a  manner  as 
if  he  himself  had  been  nominated  to  the  Governor- 
ship in  the  first  instance.1 

In  the  absence  of  a  Lieut. -Governor,  it  seems  to  have 
been  sometimes  in  the  power  of  a  Governor,  on  the  point 
of  leaving  the  Colony  temporarily,  to  choose  his  own 
deputy.  When  Dale  was  about  to  set  out  for  England 
in  1 616,  he  nominated  George  Yeardley  to  fill  his  place 
while  he  was  away2 ;  and  his  authority  for  doing  this 
was  apparently  derived  from  the  original  commission 
granted  to  De  la  Warr.3  Half  a  century  later,  Berkeley 
on  the  eve  of  his  departure  from  Jamestown  for  London 
selected,  with  the  approval  of  his  Council,  Francis 
Morryson  to  act  as  his  substitute  during  the  interval 
which  must  pass  before  his  return.4  When,  in  the  course 
of  1673-4,  he  was  again  absent,  Sir  Henry  Chichely, 
the  Deputy-Governor,  performed  the  duties  of  the  Gov- 
ernorship, not  at  Berkeley's,  but  at  the  royal  instance.5 
A  few  years  afterwards,  Charles  II,  by  special  pro- 
clamation, gave  directions  that  the  Governor,  should 
he  be  called  away  from  Jamestown  for  any  length  of 
time,  was,  with  the  Council's  consent,  to  be  impowered 
to  choose  a  deputy  unless  that  officer  had  already  been 
named  by  the  King  in  anticipation  of  the  Governor's 
temporary  withdrawal.6 

In  the  absence  of  both  the  Lieut.-Governor  and 
the  Deputy-Governor,  the  Governor  seems  to  have 

1  Orders  of  Council,  Feb.  20,  1690,  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1680-95. 

2  Works  of  Captain  John  Smith,  vol.  ii.,  p.  26,  Richmond  edition. 

3  Brown's  Genesis  of  the  United  States,  vol.  i.,  p.  380. 
*  Robinson  Transcripts,  pp.  176,  244. 

s  Randolph  MS.,  vol.  iii.,  p.  317. 

6  Surry  County  Records,  vol.  1671-74,  p.  205,  Va.  St.  Libr. 


308  Political  Condition 

possessed  the  power,  whenever  he  intended  to  remain 
away  from  Jamestown  only  for  a  comparatively  short 
time,  to  confer  upon  the  President  and  the  Council 
the  authority  to  execute  all  the  duties  incident  to 
his  office.  This  was  done  by  Wyatt  as  early  as  1623, 
when  he  set  out  for  the  Bay  to  enter  into  trade 
with  the  Indians1;  and  his  example  was  imitated 
many  decades  later  by  Culpeper  on  his  departure  for 
England;  but  not,  however,  without  his  offering 
some  justification  for  taking  the  step :  "I  leave  the 
Colony,"  he  declared,  "not  in  the  hands  of  an  easy 
Lieut.-Governor,  but  of  a  prudent,  able,  and  vigorous 
Council,  for  the  conduct  of  almost  every  individual 
member  whereof  I  dare  to  be  responsible."2  Doubtless, 
this  encomium  was  deserved,  but  the  real  explanation 
of  Culpeper' s  action  was  that  he  wished  to  avoid  that 
division  of  his  emoluments  which  would  have  followed 
the  appointment  of  a  Lieut.-Governor.  An  order  had 
been  given  by  the  Privy  Council  in  1682,  to  the  effect 
that,  during  the  absence  of  the  Governor,  one  half  of 
his  salary  and  all  his  perquisites  should  be  paid  to  the 
Lieutenant  or  Deputy- Governor  nominated  to  fill  his 
place3 ;  if,  on  the  other  hand,  that  place  was  taken  by 
the  President  of  the  Council,  a  deduction  of  only  five 
hundred  pounds  seems  to  have  been  made.4  In  1684, 
Howard,  then  intending  to  set  out  for  New  York  with  a 

1  Randolph  MS.,  vol.  iii.,  p.  173. 

2  Report  1683,  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1681-5,  p.  169;  see  also 
British  Colonial  Papers,  vol.  ii.,  p.  112. 

3  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1 681-5,  p.  93;  see  also  Instructions  to 
Andros,  B.  T.  Va.,  1691-2;  Entry  Book,  vol.  xxxvi.,  p.  126.  When 
Nicholson,  Lieut.-Governor  under  Howard,  served  as  Acting- 
Governor,  he  was  paid  one  thousand  pounds  sterling,  one  half  of 
Howard's  salary.  His  regular  salary,  should  Howard  come  over  to 
Virginia,  was  not  to  exceed  three  hundred  pounds  sterling. 

*  Beverley's  History  of  Va.,  p.  188. 


The  Governor  :  His  Appointment     309 

view  to  negotiating  a  treaty  with  the  Northern  Indians, 
issued  a  proclamation,  after  Culpeper's  example  under 
the  like  circumstances,  in  which  he  announced  that  all 
the  powers  of  his  commission  were,  after  his  departure, 
to  be  exercised  by  the  Council,  the  names  of  whose 
members  he  mentioned  in  succession,  without,  however, 
stating  which  one  was  to  possess  the  chief  authority, 
although  this,  no  doubt,  by  the  force  of  custom,  fell 
to  the  senior.1  Howard  was  certainly  as  much  in- 
fluenced by  the  spirit  of  economy  as  his  predecessor  in 
directing  the  Councillors  to  serve  in  his  place,  but  he 
was  specially  impowered  to  do  this  by  the  terms  of  his 
commission.  During  the  time  these  duties  were  exe- 
cuted by  them,  all  proclamations  issued  ran  in  the 
President's  name.2  When,  in  1693,  Andros  was  about 
to  visit  Maryland,  he  published  a  proclamation  in  which 
he  nominated  Ralph  Wormeley  to  fill  the  office  of 
President  of  the  Council  while  he  himself  should  be 
away,  and  as  such  Wormeley  seems  to  have,  in  Andros's 
absence,  performed  all  the  duties  incident  to  the 
Governorship.3 

*  See  Proclamation  in  Surry  County  Records,  vol.  1684-86,  p. 
13,  Va.  St.  Libr. ;  see  also  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1680-95,  p.  203. 

2  See,  for  instance,  Proclamation  entered  in  Henrico  County 
Records,  vol.  1688-97,  p.  94,  Va.  St.  Libr.  Nathaniel  Bacon,  Sr., 
whilst  serving  as  President  in  the  absence  of  the  Governor,  appointed 
not  only  the  sheriffs,  but  also  the  Secretary  of  the  Colony;  see  same 
Records  and  volume,  p.  121;  also  Northampton  County  Records, 
vol.  1689-98,  p.  44. 

3  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1680-95,  Proclamation  dated  1693. 


CHAPTER  VIII 
The  Governor:  Length  of  Term 

DURING  the  operation  of  the  charter  of  1606,  the 
President  or  Governor  was  supposed  to  remain 
in  office  only  one  year,  although,  after  an 
intermission,  he  was  capable  of  re-election.1  As  we 
have  seen,  this  provision  of  the  royal  instructions  was 
quietly  evaded  in  Smith's  favor  by  a  subterfuge  amply 
justified  by  the  success  of  his  administration.  When 
control  of  the  Colony's  affairs  passed,  under  the  charter 
of  1609,  to  the  London  Company,  this  body  raised  Lord 
De  la  Warr  to  the  office  of  Governor  for  life.2  The 
ordinances  of  161 9  and  1620,  however,  required  that 
the  Governor's  tenure  should  not  last  longer  than  six 
years;  three,  indeed,  constituted  the  regular  term;  but 
it  could  be  extended  to  six,  should  such  be  the  Com- 
pany's pleasure.3  The  General  Assembly,  writing  to 
the  Privy  Council  in  1623,  protested  against  the  lim- 
itation of  the  term  to  three  years, — the  period  adopted 
in  actual  practice, — on  the  ground  that,  during  the  first 
year,  this  officer  was  almost  invariably  disabled  more  or 
less  by  the  sickness  incidental  to  his  "  seasoning  " ;  and 
that  during  his  third,  he  was  making  preparations  for 

*  Brown's  Genesis  of  the  United  States,  vol.  i.,  p.  66. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  378. 

3  Orders  and  Constitutions,  161 9,  1620,  p.  19,  Force's  Historical 
Tracts,  vol.  iii. 

310 


The  Governor  :  Length  of  Term      311 

his  departure  for  England,  and,  in  consequence,  was  not 
disposed  to  give  the  strictest  attention  to  the  per- 
formance of  his  duties.1  Writing  again  in  February, 
1624-5,  just  after  they  had  received  through  Pory,  one 
of  the  Commissioners  for  the  settlement  of  the  affairs 
of  Virginia,  full  information  as  to  the  change  in  the 
form  of  government  following  upon  the  revocation  of 
the  Company's  letters-patent,  the  same  body  reiterated 
their  objection  to  so  short  a  term  as  three  years;  during 
the  first  year,  they  again  declared,  the  Governor  was 
necessarily  devoid  of  all  experience  for  the  proper  ex- 
ecution of  his  powers;  during  the  second,  he  was  still 
acquiring  this  experience;  and  during  the  third,  his 
thoughts  were  too  much  bent  upon  his  approaching 
withdrawal  to  be  directed  strenuously  towards  the 
performance  of  all  the  functions  of  his  office.  It  is 
probable  that  these  repeated  remonstrances  produced 
an  impression,  for,  in  the  course  of  the  next  year,  the 
King  issued  an  order  that  the  Governor's  commission 
should  remain  in  force  until  its  recall  had  been  signified 
under  the  royal  seal.2  This  regulation  continued  in 
operation  apparently  until  the  Colony  passed  under  the 
control  of  Parliament. 

During  the  Protectorate,  the  Governor  was  chosen 
for  brief  terms  alone :  for  instance,  in  1657-8,  this  officer 
was  elected  by  the  House  of  Burgesses  for  a  period  to 
end  with  the  convening  of  the  next  General  Assembly, 
unless,  in  the  interval,  the  English  Council  of  State 
should  send  over  different  instructions.3  After  the 
Restoration,  as  soon  as  Berkeley  resumed  his  old  po- 
sition, the  former  regulation  was  readopted,  and  he 

1  Randolph  MS.,  vol.  iii.,  p.  177. 

2  Robinson  Transcripts,  p.  44. 

3  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  i.,  pp.  358,  431. 


312  Political  Condition 

remained  in  office  until  his  successor  had  received  his 
commission ;  his  power  continued  during  fifteen  years ; 
and  he  would  not  then  have  lost  his  hold  but  for  his 
violent  course  after  the  collapse  of  the  rebellion.  Cul- 
peper  was  appointed  to  the  Governorship  for  life ;  but 
returning  to  England  without  first  obtaining  leave,  was, 
on  his  arrival,  arrested;  and  having  been  tried  for  tak- 
ing presents  from  the  Assembly,  was  deprived  of  his 
extraordinary  tenure.1  None  of  the  persons  filling  the 
position  after  him  was  nominated  for  such  an  indefinite 
period;  henceforth  there  continued  in  operation  the 
former  regulation  under  which  the  Governor  remained 
in  office  until  his  commissioned  successor  reached  the 
Colony. 

In  what  manner  was  the  Governor  inaugurated? 
The  first  formal  ceremony  of  this  kind  perhaps  taking 
place  in  Virginia  was  that  attending  Gates's  temporary 
assumption  of  power  as  De  la  Warr's  representative. 
This  occurred  in  1609.  On  his  arrival  at  Jamestown, 
having  caused  the  people  to  assemble  in  the  church  to 
the  sound  of  the  bell,  he  ordered  his  credentials  to  be 
read  aloud;  and  this  having  been  done,  Percy,  the 
President  of  the  Council  under  the  original  charter  just 
expired,  stepping  forward,  delivered  into  his  hands  the 
old  royal  commissions,  the  official  copy  of  the  royal 
charter  of  1606,  and  the  seal  of  the  King's  Council 
resident  in  Virginia. 2  When  Yeardley  came  to  Virginia 
in  1 6 19,  and  proclaimed  the  memorable  Instructions 
which  he  had  received  from  the  Company,  it  is  quite 
probable  that  the  beginning  of  the  new  epoch  was  cel- 
ebrated with  an  extraordinary  flourish,  but  no  actual 

1  Chalmers's  Annals,  p.  345;  Campbell's  History  of  Va.t  p.  336. 
Culpeper  remained  Governor  on  the  ordinary  footing. 

2  Brown's  English  Politics  in  Early  Va.  History,  p.  16  et  seq. 


The  Governor:  Length  of  Term      313 

record  of  the  fact  remains;  and  it  is  also  probable  that 
the  same  course  was  pursued  when  he  reached  James- 
town as  the  Crown's  first  permanent  representative 
after  the  revocation,  in  1624,  of  the  Company's 
letters-patent.  On  Harvey's  return  to  Virginia  in 
January,  1636-7,  he  landed  at  Point  Comfort,  and  at 
once  dispatched  a  summons  to  every  member  of  his  new 
Council;  on  their  assembling  in  the  church  at  Elizabeth 
City,  he  read  to  them  the  full  text  of  his  new  commis- 
sion and  instructions ;  and  followed  this  up  by  the  pub- 
lication of  a  full  pardon  to  nearly  all  those  who  had 
taken  an  active  part  in  his  previous  deposition.1 

When  Culpeper  arrived  at  Jamestown,  his  first  official 
act  was  to  give  orders  that  his  commission  should  be 
proclaimed  in  the  State- House;  his  second,  was  to  take 
the  oaths  of  allegiance  and  supremacy,  and  as  chief 
magistrate  of  the  Colony;  his  third,  to  administer  the 
oaths  of  allegiance  and  supremacy  to  each  member  of 
his  Council.2  As  Howard's  representative  many  years 
afterwards,  Nicholson's  first  official  step  was  to  read  his 
commission  privately  in  the  presence  of  the  Councillors ; 
he  then,  in  the  company  of  that  body,  headed  by  their 
President,  proceeded  to  the  State-House,  where  his 
commission  was  publicly  read  and  proclaimed;  and  this 
ceremony  having  been  concluded,  he  took  the  several 
oaths  required  of  him  as  the  Acting-Governor  of  Vir- 
ginia.3 The  like  ceremony  was  followed  by  Andros  in 
1692  when  he  assumed  the  same  office.4  He  arrived  in 
James  River  in  the  month  of  September;  when  Nichol- 


*  See  Harvey's  Letter  dated  January  27,  1636-7,  British  Colonial 
Papers,  vol.  ix.,  1636-8,  No.  38  I. 

2  British  Colonial  Papers,  vol.  xlvii.,  No.  105. 
'  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1680-95,  p.  349. 

*  B.  T.  Va.,  1692,  No.  128. 


314  Political  Condition 

son,  who  seems  to  have  been  stopping  at  Point  Comfort 
or  Elizabeth  City  at  the  time,  was  informed  of  his  ap- 
proach, he  set  out  at  once  for  the  landing ;  and  as  soon 
as  the  new  Governor  disembarked,  welcomed  him  in  per- 
son. In  the  meanwhile,  Nicholson  had  given  a  general 
order  to  the  local  militia  to  hold  themselves  in  readiness 
to  accompany  Andros  to  Jamestown  as  a  military  escort. 
During  the  course  of  the  latter' s  journey  thither,  several 
members  of  the  Council  came  to  join  his  cavalcade,  and 
he  was  formally  received  by  the  whole  body  on  his 
arrival  at  the  Capital.1  Nicholson  having  been  ap- 
pointed full  Governor  of  Virginia  near  the  close  of  the 
century,  his  commission,  so  soon  as  he  reached  James- 
town, was  read  by  Bartholomew  Fowler,  the  Attorney- 
General,  in  the  great  hall  of  the  Sherwood  residence, 
at  this  time  used  as  a  State- House  owing  to  that  build- 
ing's recent  destruction  by  fire.  This  commission 
having  been  proclaimed,  there  was  read  a  second  com- 
mission, in  this  case  from  the  English  High  Court  of 
Chancery,  impowering  Philip  Ludwell  and  several 
others  to  administer  the  customary  oaths,  together 
with  the  Test  oath,  to  the  new  incumbent.  Nicholson, 
having  first  read  aloud  that  part  of  his  instructions 
containing  the  full  list  of  the  new  Councillors,  took  the 
oath  relating  to  the  prevention  of  frauds  and  the  regu- 
lation of  abuses  in  the  Plantation  Trade ;  he  next  read 
his  commission  to  serve  as  the  Vice- Admiral  of  Virginia, 
and  followed  this  up  by  taking  the  Test  oath;  then, 
together  with  the  members  of  his  Council,  he  subscribed 
to  the  articles  of  association  formulated  by  Parliament 
for  assuring  the  safety  of  the  King's  person,  and  the 
security  of  the  royal  government.  All  this  having  been 
concluded,  Nicholson  signed  a  proclamation  authorizing 
1  B.  T.  Va.,  1692,  No.  133. 


The  Governor:  Length  of  Term      315 

the  persons  at  that  time  filling  the  civil  and  military 
offices  of  the  Colony  to  retain  their  positions  until  their 
successors  had  been  appointed.1 

1  Minutes  of  Council,  Dec.  9,  1698;  B.  T.  Va.,  vol.  liii. 


CHAPTER   IX 
The  Governor:  His  Powers  and  Duties. 

BY  the  terms  of  the  oath  prescribed  by  the  charter 
of  1606,  the  Governor  was  required  to  carry  out 
faithfully  and  thoroughly  all  orders  and  in- 
structions which  he  should  receive  from  the  King,  the 
Privy  Council,  or  the  Council  for  Virginia  resident  in 
England.  Acting  with  the  approval  of  his  own  Council 
at  Jamestown,  he  was  authorized  to  "rule  and  com- 
mand "  all  the  captains  and  soldiers  as  well  as  all  the 
citizens  to  be  found  within  the  bounds  of  the  Colony; 
and  he  was  to  do  this,  not  according  to  the  dictates  of 
his  own  private  judgment,  but  in  conformity  with 
regulations  drawn  for  his  guidance  by  the  King  and 
Council  in  London.1  In  the  deliberations  of  the  Coun- 
cil in  Virginia,  the  Governor,  or  President  as  he  was 
known  under  the  charter  of  1606,  was  entitled  to  cast 
a  second  vote  in  case  his  first  had  brought  about  a 
tie;  in  other  words,  he  possessed  apparently  one  vote 
as  a  member  of  the  Council,  and  a  deciding  vote  in 
addition  when  the  members  were  equally  divided  in 
their  suffrages.2 

By  the  provisions  of  the  charter  of  1609,  the  powers 
of  the  Colony's  chief  magistrate  were  made  even  broader 

«  Brown's  Genesis  of  the  United  States,  vol.  i.,  pp.  77,  78. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  77;  Brown's  First  Republic,  p.  54.  By  instructions 
to  Wyattin  1621,  the  Governor  was  to  have  "but  the  casting  voice 
in  the  Council";  see  Randolph  MS.,  vol.  iii.,  p.  163. 

316 


The  Governor's  Powers  and  Duties     317 

than  the  same  officer's  powers  were  by  the  provisions 
of  the  charter  of  1606.  De  la  Warr,  for  instance,  was 
declared  in  his  commission  to  be  the  principal  Governor, 
Commander,  and  Captain-General  of  Virginia,  whether 
by  land  or  sea.  In  all  his  public  announcements,  he 
assumed  the  general  style  of  Lord  Governor  and  Cap- 
tain-General of  the  Colony  and  Admiral  of  its  fleet. 
His  powers  included  the  right  to  put  martial  law  in 
force  at  any  time  he  should  have  reason  to  think  the 
safety  of  the  community  demanded  it;  but  in  his  or- 
dinary civil  and  criminal  administration,  he  was  to 
direct  and  rule,  punish  and  pardon,  in  stric;  accordance 
with  such  orders  and  instructions  as  he  had  received 
from  the  supreme  authorities  in  England;  and  if  none 
of  these  was  applicable  to  a  special  case  coming  before 
him,  then  he  was  to  be  guided  by  his  own  judgment 
alone  in  reaching  a  decision,  or  by  such  regulations  as 
he  and  the  Council  had  thought  proper  to  adopt  for 
the  general  advancement  of  the  Colony's  welfare.  All 
ordinances  of  this  character,  however,  were  required  to 
be  within  the  scope  of  the  law-making  power  granted 
to  the  London  Company  by  the  terms  of  the  new 
charter. l 

At  the  end  of  Argoll's  administration,  which  marked 
the  close  of  a  purely  arbitrary  form  of  government  in 
Virginia,  the  powers  and  duties  of  the  Colony's  chief 
magistrate  were  once  more  determined  in  a  general 
way  by  the  provisions,  first  of  his  Commission,  and, 
secondly,  of  his  Instructions.  A  violent  dispute  arose 
during  the  course  of  Harvey's  first  incumbency  of  the 
office  as  to  how  far  the  Governor's  powers,  as  embodied 
in  these  two  documents,  really  extended.     The  mem- 

1  Charter  of  1609,  Brown's  Genesis  of  the  United  States,  vol.  i., 
PP-  379  et  se(l- 


318  Political  Condition 

bers  of  his  Council,  who  were  bitterly  hostile  to  him  on 
account  of  his  unscrupulous  conduct  in  general  and  his 
support  of  the  Baltimore  Patent  in  particular,  boldly- 
averred  that  he  was  only  authorized  to  do  what  they 
advised  and  approved;  and  that  his  only  independent 
power  lay  in  his  privilege  of  casting  the  decisive  vote 
when  there  was  a  tie.  Harvey,  on  the  other  hand, 
loudly  asserted  that  his  Councillors  were  mere  assistants 
whose  opinions  he  could  accept  or  reject  as  he  saw  fit ; 
and  that  he  possessed  an  incontrovertible  right  as  the 
King's  representative  to  carry  out  his  own  wishes, 
purposes,  and  plans,  unaffected  by  any  opinion  which 
the  Council  might  entertain,  provided  that  they  were 
not  inconsistent  with  the  injunctions  of  his  Commis- 
sion and  Instructions.1 

The  character  of  the  Governor's  Instructions  did  not 
vary  substantially  from  the  beginning  to  the  end  of  the 
century;  taken  with  the  provisions  of  the  commission, 
they  formed  an  almost  complete  series  of  directions  for 
the  Governor's  action  under  all  those  circumstances 
which  were  likely  to  arise  during  his  tenure  of  office.  In 
the  commission  granted  to  Harvey  in  1636,  it  was  ex- 
pressly stated  that  he  and  his  Council  should  possess  all 
the  powers  exercised  by  any  Governor  and  Council 
during  the  previous  ten  years,  subject  only  to  modifica- 
tion by  such  instructions  as  had  already  been,  or  should 
be,  given  by  the  King,  Privy  Council,  or  the  Com- 
missioners of  the  Plantations.     At  first,  these  instruc- 


1  British  Colonial  Papers,  vol.  vi.,  1631-33,  No.  11;  vol.  viii., 
1634-5,  No.  65;  see  also  No.  37.  In  this  last  reference,  Harvey, 
writing  to  Secretary  Windebanke,  admitted  that  his  power  in 
Virginia  was  "not  great,  it  being  limited  by  my  commission  to  the 
greater  number  of  voyces  at  the  Councill  table,  and  there  I  have 
almost  all  against  me. " 


The  Governor's  Powers  and  Duties     319 

tions  were  by  each  Governor  frankly  disclosed  to  the 
members  of  the  Council  and  of  the  General  Assembly ; 
and  copies  were  filed  among  the  records  in  the  custody 
respectively  of  the  Secretary  at  Jamestown  and  of  the 
clerk  of  the  House  of  Burgesses,  where  they  were  open 
to  perusal  by  any  citizen.1  Howard,  who  reflected 
only  too  faithfully  the  arbitrary  spirit  of  his  royal 
master,  made  a  complete  alteration  of  this  very  proper 
and  reasonable  custom;  during  the  course  of  his  term 
of  office,  it  was  decided,  either  directly  by  himself  or  at 
his  solicitation,  that  the  Governor  should  be  at  liberty 
to  reveal  or  withhold  his  instructions  as  he  should  think 
judicious.  When  Howard  was  about  to  visit  England, 
he  disclosed  to  his  Council  only  those  clauses  which  he 
thought  it  indispensable  that  they  should  know  in  order 
to  administer  properly  the  affairs  of  Virginia  during  his 
absence.2  Andros  was,  in  1691,  expressly  impowered 
to  communicate  to  his  Council  from  time  to  time  such 
and  so  many  of  his  instructions  as  the  Colony's  interests 
would  seem  to  demand.3  Not  unnaturally,  the  reser- 
vation of  such  a  right  to  the  Governors  caused  much 
complaint  as  it  was  one  so  capable  of  abuse.  Several 
of  these  officers  were  openly  accused  of  keeping  their 
instructions  in  the  dark  so  as  to  be  able  every  now  and 
then  to  lay  before  the  Council  or  General  Assembly  a 
section,  or  the  part  of  a  section,  that  made  to  their 
interest.  As  long  as  the  full  tenor  of  his  instructions 
was  not  known,  it  was  impossible  to  charge  a  Governor 
with  their  violation,  and  thus  an  important  check  on 
his  conduct  never  came  into  existence.4 

i  Present  State  of  Virginia,  1697-8,  section  tv. 

2  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1680-95,  p.  310;  1685-90,  p.  21. 

3  Instructions  to  Andros,  February,  1691-2,  B.  T.  Va.;   Entry 
Book,  vol.  xxxvi. 

*  Present  State  of  Virginia,  1697-8,  section  iv. 


320  Political  Condition 

In  a  general  way,  it  may  be  said  that  the  Governor 
exercised  at  least  eighteen  distinct  powers:  first,  he 
appointed  members  of  his  Council  temporarily  in  case 
of  vacancy,  and  suspended  them  for  cause;  secondly, 
as  a  part  of  the  General  Assembly,  his  assent  was  neces- 
sary to  the  final  passage  of  an  Act;  thirdly,  his  veto 
killed  a  measure1;  fourthly,  he  called  together,  pro- 
rogued, and  dissolved  the  General  Assembly;  fifthly,  he 
not  only  sat  at  the  head  of  the  General  Court,  but 
also  established  courts  of  justice,  commissioned  judges, 
and  all  other  officers  engaged  in  the  administration 
and  enforcement  of  the  laws;  sixthly,  his  signature  was 
necessary  to  the  validity  of  all  warrants  on  the  public 
treasury;  seventhly,  he  was  authorized  to  pardon  all 
offenders,  unless  they  had  been  convicted  of  treason  or 
wilful  murder2 ;  eighthly,  he  could  grant  reprieves  and 
remit  fines ;  ninthly,  he  collated  to  any  church,  chapel-of- 
ease,  or  other  ecclesiastic  benefice,  as  often  as  its  pulpit 
became  vacant ;  tenthly,he  levied,  armed,  mustered,  and 
commanded  the  militia,  and  could  transfer  them  from 
one  place  to  another  in  case  it  should  be  necessary  to 
resist  an  attack;  eleventhly,  he  executed  martial  law 
whenever  it  was  required  in  time  of  an  invasion  or 


1  See  Instructions  to  Berkeley,  164 1-2;  also  the  Commission 
of  Howard. 

2  The  Governor  could  only  issue  a  proclamation  of  pardon  in 
accord  with  the  terms  of  his  formal  instructions.  Berkeley,  who 
had  been  ordered  to  except  only  Bacon  in  his  Proclamation  of 
Pardon  issued  February  10,  1676-7  took  it  upon  himself  to  except 
others,  and  was  afterwards  condemned  by  the  King  for  having 
exceeded  his  authority;  see  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  ii.,  p.  428.  As 
the  Governor  had  no  power  to  pardon  treason,  Culpeper  was 
unable  to  lighten  the  sentence  of  the  ringleaders  of  the  Plant- 
cutters'  insurrection,  which  had  been  declared  to  be  rebellion  under 
an  old  statute  because  tending  to  diminish  the  royal  revenues; 
Colonial  Entry  Book,  1 681-5,  p.  152. 


The  Governor's  Powers  and  Duties      321 

insurrection,1  built  forts,  fortified  towns,  and  equipped 
them  with  ordnance  and  arms;  twelfthly,  he  filled  the 
office  of  Vice-Admiral  for  all  the  coasts  and  seas  of 
Virginia  subject  to  orders  received  from  the  Commis- 
sioners of  Plantations  and  the  English  High  Court  of 
Admiralty;  thirteenthly,  he  administered  the  oaths  of 
allegiance  and  supremacy  to  all  persons  arriving  in  the 
Colony  with  the  purpose  of  settling  there,  and  also  to 
all  mariners  and  merchants  stopping  there  only  for  a 
time,  should  he  have  reason  to  question  their  loyalty; 
fourteenthly,  he  could  appoint  ship-masters  and  com- 
mission them  to  execute  martial  law  in  the  event  of  a 
mutiny  or  conspiracy  among  their  seamen;  fifteenthly, 
he,  with  his  Council's  consent,  granted  all  patents  to  the 
public  lands;  sixteenthly,  he  designated  the  places  for 
new  markets,  custom-houses,  and  ware-houses,  and 
appointed  the  officers  who  were  to  have  charge  of  them; 
seventeenthly,  he  issued  proclamations;  and  finally, 
he  seems,  towards  the  end  of  the  century,  to  have 
possessed  the  right  to  naturalize  foreigners,  a  right 
previously  enjoyed  by  the  General  Assembly.2 

•  It  was  by  his  right  of  proclaiming  martial  law  that  Berkeley 
justified  the  summary  executions  that  followed  the  collapse  of  the 
Insurrection  of  1676,  although,  when  the  power  was  exercised,  all 
resistance  had  ceased,  and  the  real  reason  for  which  the  power  had 
been  originally  granted  was  no  longer  in  operation. 

2  B.  T.  Va.,  Entry  Book,  vol.  xxxvi.,  p.  127;  Colonial  Entry  Book, 
1606-66,  p.  220;  Robinson  Transcripts,  p.  48;  Beverley's  History 
of  Va.,  p.  188;  see  also  Proclamation  of  Andros,  1692,  in  North- 
ampton County  Records,  vol.  1689-98,  p.  217;  Randolph  MS.,  vol. 
iii.,  p.  328;  B.  T.  Va.,  1692,  No.  128.  By  Instructions  given  to 
Howard,  the  Governor's  power  to  remit  fines  was  limited  to  ten 
pounds  sterling  or  under.  If  the  fine  exceeded  that  amount,  he 
was  required  to  report  to  the  King  the  nature  of  the  offence,  and 
the  like;  see  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1685-90,  p.  30.  Speaking  in 
a  general  way  of  the  powers  which  he  had  exercised  as  Lieut. - 
Governor,  Nicholson  said  in  1692,  with  justifiable  pride,  that  he  had 


VOL.    II 21 


322  Political  Condition 

In  examining  this  long  and  varied  list  of  powers, 
they  will  be  found  to  fall  under  a  few  general  heads. 
The  Governor  was,  first,  the  personal  representative  of 
the  King ;  as  such  he  granted  patents  to  the  public  lands, 
made  appointments  to  most  of  the  offices  of  public 
trust  and  profit,  summoned,  prorogued,  and  dissolved 
the  General  Assembly,  gave  or  refused  assent  to  the 
latter's  Acts,  made  peace  or  declared  war  in  the  Colony 
according  to  his  best  judgment,  and  on  all  public 
occasions  performed  the  ceremonial  part  of  a  viceroy; 
secondly,  he  was  the  King's  Lieutenant-General  and 
Commander-in-chief;  as  such  he  raised  and  exercised 
supreme  control  over  all  troops,  appointed  and  com- 
missioned all  military  officers,  and  ordered  the  erection 
or  destruction  of  forts  and  fortifications;  thirdly,  he  was 
the  King's  Vice- Admiral ;  as  such  he  took  account  of 
all  maritime  prizes,  was  the  supreme  commander  of  all 
ships  and  seamen,  and  imposed  or  removed  embargoes 
and  the  like ;  fourthly  he  was  the  King's  Lord  Treasurer ; 
as  such  he  issued  warrants  for  the  payment  of  the  public 
moneys  used  for  the  support  or  advancement  of  the 
Colony's  government;  fifthly,  he  was  the  King's  Lord 
Keeper;  as  such  he  used  the  colonial  seal  in  passing 
formal  public  documents;  sixthly,  he  was  the  King's 
Chief  Justice,  Chief  Baron,  and  Chancellor,  and  as  such 
presided  in  the  General  Court,  which,  as  we  have  seen, 
embraced  in  its  single  jurisdiction  the  several  jurisdic- 
tions of  the  King's  Bench,  Common  Pleas,  Chancery, 
Exchequer,  and  Ecclesiastic  Courts  in  England;  sev- 

aimed  to  promote  the  service  of  God  by  taking  care  of  the  clergy 
and  enforcing  the  laws  against  vice;  had  asserted  the  royal  pre- 
rogatives on  all  occasions;  had  looked  after  the  royal  income, 
which  he  had  left  greater  than  before;  had  increased  the  militia 
and  brought  them  in  good  method;  and,  finally,  had  always  re- 
spected the  advice  of  his  Council;  B.  T.  Va.,  1692,  No.  128. 


The  Governor's  Powers  and  Duties      323 

enthly,  he  was  the  supreme  President  of  the  Council,  and 
as  such  led  and  shaped  the  deliberations  of  that  body; 
and  finally  he  was  practically  the  King's  ecclesiastical 
representative,  and  as  exercising  the  powers  of  a  bish- 
op-in-ordinary, granted  licenses  of  marriage,  inducted 
newly  presented  clergymen  into  their  livings,  signed  all 
probates  and  administrations,  and  was  the  arbiter  in  all 
disputes  involving  the  interests  of  the  Church  and  its 
ministers.1  In  all,  or  nearly  all  these  capacities,  it 
seems  to  have  been  necessary  for  the  Governor  to  act 
subject  to  the  advice  and  approval  of  his  Council. 

There  was  one  notable  restriction  upon  the  Governor's 
power  to  fill  all  offices  of  trust  and  profit  in  the  Col- 
ony by  his  own  appointment :  if  such  an  office  happened 
to  be  one  always  occupied  by  a  person  who  had  received 
his  commission  from  England  under  the  royal  seal,  then 
the  Governor  was  only  authorized,  in  case  that  office 
became  vacant  by  the  death,  resignation,  or  removal 
of  the  incumbent,  to  nominate  a  new  incumbent  for  the 
interval  which  must  pass  before  the  position  could  be 
again  filled  by  the  appointment  of  the  English  author- 
ities.2 Among  the  minor  offices  coming  within  this 
category  were  those  of  the  captain  of  the  fort  at  Point 
Comfort  so  long  as  that  fortification  should  be  main- 
tained, the  Muster-Master-General,  who  had  charge  of 
the  militia  drill,  and  the  Surveyor-General,  who  ex- 
ercised a  general  supervision  over  all  the  persons 
licensed  to  lay  off  the  boundaries  denned  in  newly 
issued  patents  to  the  public  lands.3 

»  Present  State  of  Virginia,  section  iv.;  Beverley's  History  of 
Virginia,  p.  188;  Randolph  MS.,  vol.  iii.,  p.  208. 

2  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1685-90,  p.  17;  B.  T.  Va.,  Entry  Book, 
vol.  xxxvi.,  p.  107. 

3  See  Instructions  to  Berkeley,  164 1-2,  Colonial  Entry  Book, 
1606-62,  p.  222. 


324  Political  Condition 

In  all  those  cases  in  which  the  Governor  was  impow- 
ered  to  remove  an  incumbent  from  his  office,  he  was 
required  to  do  so  only  for  just  cause,  and  this  cause  had 
to  be  promptly  reported  to  the  King  and  the  Committee 
of  Foreign  Plantations.1 

The  power  exercised  by  the  Governor,  with  the 
advice  and  consent  of  the  Council,  through  the  medium 
of  public  proclamations,  seems  to  have  been  extensive, 
especially  during  the  early  periods  of  the  Colony's  his- 
tory, and  not  infrequently  led  to  serious  abuses.  The 
encroachment  was  carried  so  far  in  1642-3  that  an  Act 
of  Assembly  was  passed  in  the  course  of  that  year 
depriving  the  injunctions  contained  in  such  documents 
of  all  legal  validity  when  in  conflict  with  the  provisions 
of  existing  statutes.  It  was  not  permissible  for  any 
person  to  justify  disobedience  to  any  one  of  these 
statutes  on  the  ground  that  he  was  acting  in  accord 
with  the  terms  of  a  proclamation.2  No  Governor  had 
so  systematically  or  so  persistently  employed  this  in- 
strument in  derogation  of  the  rights  of  the  legislature 
as  Harvey  had  done  3 ;  and  to  some  extent,  no  doubt,  the 
recollection  of  its  perversion  by  him,  and  the  evil 
consequences  following,  had  its  influence  in  bringing 
about  this  prohibitive  measure,  directly  designed  as  it 
was  to  prevent  the  repetition  of  such  conduct.  The 
legitimate  use  of  the  proclamation  was  limited  to 
giving  a  public  notice.  An  instance  of  this  use,  among 
the  hundreds  which  might  be  mentioned,  occurred  in 
1 69 1-2,  when  a  patent  was  granted  to  Thomas  Neal 
to  establish  a  system  of  post-offices  in  America.     His 

1  Instructions  to  Andros,  1 691-2,  B.  T.  Va.,  Entry  Book,  vol. 
xxxvi.,  p.  127. 

2  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  i.,  p.  264 

3  See  Campbell's  summary  of  Harvey's  misconduct,  in  his 
History  of  Virginia,  p.  194. 


The  Governor's  Powers  and  Duties     325 

deputy  in  Virginia  was  Peter  Heyman.  When  Hey- 
man  was  nominated  to  this  position,  Andros  issued  a 
proclamation  in  which,  after  announcing  that  fact,  he 
instructed  all  the  Colony's  different  authorities  to  assist 
the  new  deputy  as  far  as  possible  in  promoting  the 
success  of  his  performance  of  the  duties  of  his  new 
position.1 

The  Governor's  power  to  issue  warrants  for  payment 
of  the  public  moneys  was  hedged  about  with  numerous 
precautionary  provisions  to  prevent  its  abuse.  The 
Council  in  1683  adopted  a  resolution  that,  after  the 
salaries  of  the  Governor  and  the  English  Auditor- 
General  of  the  Colonies  had  been  disbursed,  no  sum  was 
to  be  drawn  out  of  the  public  treasury  without  the 
Governor's  warrant  having  first  received  the  approval 
of  at  least  five  members  of  the  Board.2  About  ten 
years  afterwards,  Andros  was  instructed  by  the  Com- 
missioners of  Trade  and  Plantations  to  submit  to  the 
General  Assembly  from  time  to  time  all  accounts  for 
the  expenditure  of  funds  raised  under  the  authority 
of  its  Acts.3  The  endorsement  of  the  warrant  by  five 
of  the  Councillors  was  probably  still  necessary,  but  this 
new  provision  was  a  much  more  important  step  for 
the  protection  of  the  public  interests,  as  the  members  of 
the  Council  were  generally  too  much  disposed  to  yield 
to  the  influence  of  the  Governor,  on  whose  good  will 
their  tenure  of  office  practically  depended. 

The  power  to  call  the  General  Assembly  together 
seems  to  have  belonged  to  the  Governor  from  the 
earliest  date,  as  it  formed  one  of  the  most  important 


1  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1680-95,  February,  169 1-2. 

2  Ibid.,  1680-95,  P-  l67- 

3  Instructions  to  Andros,  1 691-2,  B.  T.  Va.,  Entry  Book,  vol. 
xxxvi.,  p.  126. 


326  Political  Condition 

functions  of  his  representative  character.  We  find  it 
expressly  bestowed  on  him  by  the  formal  articles  of 
administration  put  in  force  by  Wyatt  in  1 62 1 . x  Thirty- 
nine  years  later,  when  the  system  prevailing  during  the 
Protectorate  gave  way  to  the  new  order  brought  about 
by  the  restoration  of  the  Stuarts,  the  Governor  was 
again  invested  with  the  right  to  summon  the  General 
Assembly2 ;  but  Berkeley,  as  we  have  seen,  was  satisfied 
to  retain  for  fourteen  years  the  same  House  of  Burgesses, 
changed  only  so  far  as  was  made  necessary  by  the  death 
or  resignation  of  a  few  members  from  time  to  time. 
The  power  of  calling  the  General  Assembly  together 
was,  as  will  be  shown  later  on,  one  which  the  Governor 
was  compelled  to  exercise  within  certain  periods  fixed 
by  law.  When  an  extraordinary  session  of  this  body 
was  held,  it  was  held  at  the  summons  of  this  officer 
acting  under  the  advice  and  with  the  approval  of  the 
Councillors.3  At  the  end  of  the  century,  he  seems  to 
have  possessed  the  power  to  dissolve  the  Assembly  on 
his  own  responsibility  alone.4  On  the  other  hand,  dur- 
ing the  period  of  the  Commonwealth,  he  was  required 
first  to  obtain  the  Council's  consent 5 ;  at  this  time,  there 
was  a  keen  dispute  in  progress  between  the  Governor 
and  the  Councillors,  on  the  one  side,  and  the  Burgesses, 

1  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  i.,  pp.  1 10-13. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  531 ;  Randolph  MS.,  vol.  iii.,  p.  288. 

3  Instructions  given  to  Berkeley  in  1 641-2  declared  that  the 
Assembly  must  be  summoned  by  the  Governor  and  Council  "as 
formerly";  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1606-62,  p.  221.  In  1681,  the 
advice  of  seven  councillors  was  required ;  see  Colonial  Entry  Book, 
1680-95,  p.  113. 

*  See  chapter  in  Beverley's  History  of  Virginia  relating  to 
Governor. 

5  "The  Governor  and  Council  for  many  causes  do  think  fit  to 
declare  that  they  do  now  dissolve  this  present  Assembly,  etc."; 
Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  i.,  p.  499. 


The  Governor's  Powers  and  Duties      327 

on  the  other,  as  to  whether  the  approval  of  the  latter 
body  was  not  essential  to  the  legality  of  the  order  for 
a  dissolution.1  Occasionally,  a  General  Assembly 
would  be  formally  prorogued  by  the  act  of  the  Governor, 
and  at  a  later  date  by  public  proclamation  declared  to 
be  dissolved.2 

The  Governor,  as  has  been  already  pointed  out, 
possessed  the  right  of  vetoing  any  Act  failing  to  receive 
his  approval.  Several  of  the  Colony's  chief  magis- 
trates seem  to  have  gone  so  far, — possibly  in  their 
character  as  a  part  of  the  General  Assembly, — as 
to  introduce  radical  alterations  into  measures  already 
passed  by  the  House  of  Burgesses.  This  was  done  on 
at  least  one  occasion  by  Culpeper.3  He  reached  James- 
town from  England  on  Saturday,  and  proceeding  im- 
mediately to  Green  Spring,  dispatched  a  formal  message 
to  announce  his  arrival  to  the  Assembly,  which  had 
arranged  all  their  Acts  in  final  shape  for  the  Council's 
assent  and  the  Governor's  signature.  On  Monday,  he 
went  down  to  Jamestown,  and  having  ordered  copies 
of  all  these  Acts  to  be  brought  to  him,  sitting,  no  doubt, 
as  the  presiding  officer  of  the  Upper  House,  he  examined 
them  with  great  care,  and  with  his  pen  made  many 
important  erasures,  and  perhaps  additions  also.  He 
afterwards  very  complacently  reported  to  the  English 
Government  that  he  had  taken  "the  sting"  out  of 
them  all.  At  this  time,  he  had  hardly  been  in  the 
Colony  more  than  forty-eight  hours  altogether,  and 
was  without  the  slightest  knowledge,  based  on  personal 

1  When  Berkeley  became  Governor  again  in  1659-60,  the  General 
Assembly  passed  an  Act  that  the  House  could  only  be  dissolved 
with  the  consent  of  a  majority  of  its  members;  Hening's  Statutes, 
vol.  i.,  p.  531. 

2  B.  T.  Va.,  1692,  No.  134. 

8  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1 681-5,  p.  155. 


328  Political  Condition 

observation  and  experience,  of  its  real  needs.  His 
alterations  probably  extended  only  to  expressions  which 
seemed  to  him  to  be  a  too  free  assertion  of  popular 
rights.  But  his  conduct  on  this  occasion  was  a  not 
inapt  illustration  of  the  spirit  of  some  of  the  Governors, 
particularly  at  the  very  beginning  of  their  terms; 
having  just  arrived  from  England  deeply  impressed 
with  the  importance  of  their  representative  character, 
and  regarding  the  citizens  of  Virginia  as  being  far  more 
provincial  than  even  the  inhabitants  of  the  remotest 
rural  district  of  the  Mother  Country,  and,  therefore, 
essentially  ignorant,  they  were  disposed  at  first  to  look 
upon  the  Burgesses  collectively  very  much  as  an  older 
person  looks  upon  a  child,  namely,  as  one  who  is  at 
once  lacking  in  judgment  and  eager  to  contemn  au- 
thority. It  was  natural  and  just  that  the  Assembly 
should  have  been  strongly  inclined  to  contest  a  Gover- 
nor's right  to  exercise  the  power  of  vetoing  their  Acts 
when  they  were  perfectly  aware  that  the  more  inex- 
perienced this  officer  was,  the  quicker  he  would  be  to 
make  use  of  that  power,  and,  therefore,  the  more 
destructive  of  the  Colony's  best  interests  it  would  be- 
come. x  Even  the  milder  process  of  taking  ' '  the  sting ' ' 
out  of  their  Acts  could  not  have  been  agreeable  to  men 
who  had  been  careful  and  deliberate  in  framing  each 
of  these  measures;  especially  if  they  knew  that  the 
person  assuming  the  right  to  do  this  had  hardly  yet 
recovered  from  the  sickness  incident  to  his  first  voyage 
across  the  Atlantic. 

From  the  foundation  of  the  Colony,  one  of  the 
Governor's  most  important  duties  was  to  inform  the 

1  Charles  II,  complained  that  the  Assembly  of  1685  spent  its 
time  in  "frivolous  debates,"  and  in  contesting  the  Governor's 
power  of  veto;  see  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  iii.,  p.  40. 


The  Governor's  Powers  and  Duties     329 

King,  through  either  the  Privy  Council  or  the  Com- 
missioners of  Plantations,  of  the  general  progress  of 
affairs  in  Virginia.  During  the  short  time  the  first 
charter  remained  in  force,  the  President  was  required 
by  his  oath  to  make  periodically  such  a  report  to  the 
Resident  Council  in  England,  which  in  its  turn  sub- 
mitted to  the  King  the  information  thus  acquired.1 
Instructions  were  given  to  Wyatt  in  162 1  to  send  to 
the  Council  of  the  London  Company  sitting  in  London 
a  full  account  of  the  Colony's  condition  certainly  once 
every  three  months 2 ;  but  after  the  revocation  of  the 
letters-patent  in  1624,  this  report  had  to  be  transmitted 
only  once  in  the  course  of  a  year.  Occasionally,  the 
Governor  was  instructed  as  to  the  special  subjects  on 
which  he  was  expected  to  touch  at  length ;  for  instance, 
in  1 66 1-2,  Berkeley  was  directed  to  draw  up  a  detailed 
statement  as  to  the  improvements  brought  about  by 
the  recent  industry  of  the  planters;  and  also  as  to  how 
many  new  patents  had  been  issued ;  and  as  to  how  many 
settlers  had  lately  been  established  in  the  Colony.3 
The  supplementary  instructions  to  the  same  Governor 
in  1676,  required  him  to  report  annually  to  the  Council 
of  Trade  and  Plantations  and  also  to  the  Commissioners 
and  Farmers  of  the  Customs,  the  entire  quantity  of 
tobacco  exported  from  Virginia ;  and  also  to  transmit  a 
full  description  of  all  the  iron  furnaces  and  other  works 
of  the  same  general  character  which  were  either  in 
actual  operation,  or  under  advisement.4 

*  Orders  of  Council,  1606,  Brown's  Genesis  of  the  United  States, 
vol.  i.,  p.  78. 

2  Randolph  MS.,  vol.  iii.,  p.  162. 

3  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1606-62,  p.  274;  Randolph  MS.,  vol.  iii., 
p.  280;  Va.  Maga.  of  Hist,  and  Biog.,  vol.  iii.,  p.  20. 

*  Instructions  to  Berkeley,  1676,  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1675-81, 
p.   114. 


330  Political  Condition 

In  1679,  the  Governor  and  Council  were  again  ordered 
to  make  a  report  once  every  three  months  as  to  all 
matters  touching  the  civil,  military,  and  ecclesiastical 
welfare  of  the  Colony.  They  were  to  give  particular 
information,  not  only  as  to  recent  political  events,  but 
also  as  to  all  propositions  brought  forward  with  a  view  to 
the  passage  of  new  laws;  it  would  seem  that  previously 
the  Governor  and  Council  had  been  content  simply  to 
transmit  copies  of  all  orders  and  acts  adopted  by  the 
General  Assembly.1  The  reason  for  demanding  a  more 
detailed  account  lay  in  the  greater  interest  now  felt 
in  Virginia  by  the  English  authorities  in  consequence 
of  the  increase  of  its  wealth  and  population,  and  also 
in  their  determination  to  find  out  the  degree  of  zeal 
shown  in  the  enforcement  of  the  Navigation  Acts.2 

Howard  was  commanded  by  James  II  to  transmit 
authentic  copies  of  all  acts  recently  passed  by  the 
General  Assembly;  he  was  warned  that,  should  he 
neglect  to  obey,  he  would  incur  the  King's  highest 
displeasure;  and  what  was  probably  equally  terrifying 
to  his  greedy  spirit,  would  be  deprived  of  his  entire 
salary  for  the  year  in  which  he  failed  to  comply  with 
the  order.  No  excuse  whatever  was  to  be  accepted  to 
condone  the  offense,  should  he  be  guilty  of  it.3  Nichol- 
son, by  the  instructions  given  to  him  in  1698,  was 
required  to  return  once  every  six  months  to  the  Com- 
missioners of  the  Treasury,  or  the  Treasurer  of  England, 
as  well  as  to  the  Commissioners  of  Plantations,  a  full 
account  of  all  the  warrants  for  the  payment  of  money 

«  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1676-81,  p.  410. 

8  Ibid.,  vol.  xlvi.,  pp.  406,  407.  These  journals  are  now  pre- 
served in  the  State  Paper  Office  in  London  and  are  among  the 
most  valuable  of  all  the  records  relating  to  Colonial  Virginia  in 
existence. 

3  Instructions  to  Howard,  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1685-90,  p.  25. 


The  Governor's  Powers  and  Duties      331 

attested  by  him  as  Governor,  the  amount  of  each  sum 
disbursed,  the  person  to  whom  it  was  paid,  and  the 
purpose  for  which  it  was  expended.  The  object  of  this 
regulation  was  declared  to  be  to  show  the  King  that  the 
revenue  of  the  Colony  had  been  properly  applied.1 

»  B.  T.  Va.,  Entry  Book,  vol.  xxxvii.,  p.  275. 


CHAPTER  X 
The  Governor:  His  Residence 

HOW  far  was  the  Governor  compelled,  during  his 
time  of  office,  to  reside  in  Virginia?  In  the 
course  of  1675,  the  agents  sent  to  England  to 
procure  the  confirmation  of  certain  rights  by  formal 
charter,  urged  that  one  of  the  provisions  of  the  proposed 
document  should  be  that  the  Governor  should,  during 
the  whole  of  his  term,  be  a  resident  of  the  Colony;  and 
if  called  away  to  some  other  part  of  America  or  to 
England,  for  a  comparatively  short  time,  should  trans- 
fer the  powers  and  duties  of  his  position,  during  that 
interval,  to  a  Deputy-Governor,  who  should  be  an 
actual  citizen  of  Virginia,  and  the  owner  of  an  estate 
there.1  When  the  agents  submitted  this  request, 
Berkeley  still  occupied  the  office  of  Governor,  and, 
except  in  the  time  of  the  Commonwealth,  had  not  been 
absent  more  than  twice  since  the  date  of  his  first 
appointment,  and  then  only  to  transact  important 
public  business  in  London.  No  one  whose  term  ap- 
proached his  in  length,  during  the  Seventeenth  century, 
identified  himself  with  all  those  interests  springing 
from  a  permanent  residence  in  the  community  more 
thoroughly  than  he  did;  and  it  appears  the  more  re- 
markable that,  in  the  very  year  of  his  final  departure 
for  England,  a  royal  proclamation  should  have  been 

1  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  ii.,  p.  524. 

332 


The  Governor  :  His  Residence       333 

issued  directing  that  thereafter  the  incumbent  of  the 
same  office  should,  for  the  time  being,  live  in  Virginia.1 
This  regulation  did  not  remain  long  in  force, — perhaps, 
because  there  was  no  urgent  reason  why  it  should  be 
permanently  maintained,  inasmuch  as  the  Lieut.  - 
Governor,  who  took  the  place  of  a  Governor  indis- 
posed to  leave  England  in  order  to  occupy  his  post 
oversea,  was  not  likely  to  be  less  capable  than  his 
superior  in  performing  the  duties  of  that  post.  Indeed, 
he  was  apt  to  be  more  capable,  as  so  many  of  these 
officials  acquired  the  position  by  influence  at  Court, 
independently  of  talent,  experience,  and  personal 
energy.  The  Lieut. -Governor,  on  the  other  hand,  was 
likely  to  be  a  man  who,  though  less  conspicuous  in  rank, 
had  been  recommended  by  these  very  qualities,  which 
alone  had  made,  him  a  person  of  mark.  Nor  was  he 
apt  to  be  less  zealous  in  discharging  the  duties  of 
the  post,  inasmuch,  as  being  less  distinguished  and 
fortunate  than  his  superior,  he  looked  upon  his  office 
as  furnishing  an  opportunity  to  win  a  reputation  for 
efficiency  and  usefulness  which  would  serve  him  well 
at  a  later  period.  Above  all,  as  he  was  not  so  much 
inclined  to  regard  his  appointment  as  Lieut. -Governor 
as  sounding  his  exile  to  a  remote  corner  of  the  world, 
he  was  not  moved  to  the  same  degree  to  utilize  this 
period  in  accumulating,  by  every  form  of  extortion  that 
could  be  safely  ventured  upon,  the  largest  sum  possi- 
ble to  compensate  him  for  so  long  an  absence  from 
England.  The  most  zealous,  energetic,  and  public 
spirited  of  all  the  later  occupants  of  the  post  of  Governor 
was  Nicholson,  whose  first  connection  with  Virginia 
was  in  the  character  of  Lieut. -Governor.     The  attitude 

1  See  Proclamation  of  Charles  II,  dated  1677,  entered  in  Surry 
County  Records,  vol.  1671-84,  p.  205,  Va.  St.  Libr. 


334  Political  Condition 

of  this  officer  towards  the  Colony  was  in  striking  con- 
trast with  that  of  his  predecessors,  Howard  and 
Culpeper. 

It  was  not  the  substitution  of  a  Lieut. -Governor  for 
the  Governor  through  the  whole  of  the  latter' s  term 
that  the  citizens  of  Virginia  condemned,  but  rather 
the  repeated  absence,  for  varying  periods,  of  those 
holding  the  highest  office  in  the  Colony;  this  was  the 
real  meaning,  for  instance,  of  the  minute  which  the 
Council  in  1690  entered  in  their  journal  declaring  that 
the  people's  welfare  required  that  the  Governors,  during 
their  incumbency,  should  make  Virginia  their  chief 
place  of  residence.  Not  content  with  the  knowledge 
that  this  minute  would  fall  under  the  notice  of  the 
Commissioners  of  Plantations  when  they  came  to  read 
the  copy  of  the  journal  which  would  be  sent  to  England, 
they  appear  to  have  petitioned  the  King  directly  to 
compel  every  person  nominated  to  the  Governorship  to 
repair  at  once  to  the  Colony,  and  to  remain  there  until 
the  end  of  his  term  in  the  faithful  and  punctual  per- 
formance of  his  duties.1  The  Board  of  Trade  seems  to 
have  looked  upon  this  request  as  reasonable  and  proper ; 
in  1699  that  body  addressed  a  letter  to  Nicholson, 
recently  appointed  to  the  full  Governorship,  in  which 
they  dwelt  with  emphasis  on  the  great  inconveniences 
and  drawbacks  of  leaving  the  duties  of  patent  offices  to 
deputies,  who,  on  account  of  the  small  rewards  they 
received  during  their  incumbency,  might  be  tempted 
to  make  indirectly  out  of  the  position  enough  to 
compensate  them  for  sharing  their  emoluments  with 
their  superiors.  Although  the  Governorship  was 
not  specifically  named  as  one  of  the  patent  offices 
referred  to,  the  inference  is  strong  that  it  also  was 

»  B.  T.  Va.  Entry  Book,  vol.  xxxvi.,  p.  28. 


The  Governor  :  His  Residence       335 

intended  to  be  embraced  in  the  scope  of  this  official 
warning.1 

Where  did  the  Governor  reside  during  his  sojourn  in 
the  Colony?  The  earliest  incumbent  of  the  position  to 
consider  the  question  of  building  a  permanent  dwelling 
house  for  all  the  persons  who  should,  in  succession,  hold 
the  office,  was  Ratcliffe,  the  first  to  follow  Wingfield  as 
President  of  the  Council.  Such  a  house  was  perhaps 
even  begun  by  him,  and  on  as  large  a  scale  as  the 
facilities  for  construction  at  the  time  permitted,  for 
Smith  uses  the  expression  "Ratcliffe's  palace,"  the 
erection  of  which  he  promptly  stayed  when  he  assumed 
the  chief  power,  on  the  ground  that  it  was  a  " thing' ' 
of  no  practical  value.2  It  was  not  until  Gates  became 
the  Governor  of  Virginia  that  a  residence  for  this 
officer  was  built.  The  actual  work  of  construction  was 
done  by  the  Company's  servants.  Argoll,  a  few  years 
afterwards,  enlarged  the  house ;  and  that  it  was  standing 
in  good  repair  when  Yeardley  arrived  was  shown  by 
the  order  given  him  to  convert  it  into  a  permanent 
official  residence  for  the  occupation  of  each  of  the 
Governors  in  succession.3  This  residence  seems  to 
have  been  situated  at  Jamestown.  In  1620,  Yeardley 
erected  on  the  land  assigned  for  the  Governor's  more 
convenient  support,  a  second  dwelling  house  intended 
exclusively  for  the  enjoyment  of  each  incumbent  of  the 
office  in  turn.4     Harvey  seems  to  have  owned  the  house 


»  See  Board  of  Trade  to  Nicholson,  June  26,  1699,  B.  T.  Va., 
vol.  xxxvii.,  p.  330. 

2  Works  of  Captain  John  Smith,  vol.  i.,  p.  192,  Richmond  edition. 

3  Instructions  to  Yeardley,  16 18,  Va.  Maga.  of  Hist,  and  Biog., 
vol.  ii.,  p.  158;  Tyler's  Cradle  of  the  Republic,  p.  108. 

4  In  a  grant  to  George  Harrison  by  Yeardley,  dated  March  6, 
1 620-1,  he  referred  to  the  land  as  situated  "over  against  his  newe 
mansion  House  in  Southampton  Hundred."     This  was  where  the 


336  Political  Condition 

which  he  occupied  at  Jamestown.1  As  an  Act  of 
Assembly  passed  in  1639  required  the  Governor  to 
reside  at  that  place,  it  is  probable  that  some  of  those 
who  had  filled  the  post  had  either  lived  on  their  own 
estates,  or  had,  for  the  greater  part  of  their  time,  dwelt 
in  the  mansion  erected  on  the  Governor's  plantation 
situated  in  Southampton  Hundred.  When  called  to 
Jamestown  during  the  sessions  of  the  General  Court  or 
of  the  General  Assembly,  they  had  perhaps  found 
temporary  board  and  lodgings  in  a  tavern. 

In  1643,  only  a  short  time  after  Berkeley's  arrival  in 
Virginia,  he  received  the  grant  of  an  estate  of  nine 
hundred  and  eighty-four  acres  known  as  Green  Spring, 
situated  not  far  from  Jamestown,  and  apparently  a 
part  of  the  tract  of  three  thousand  acres  belonging  to 
the  office  of  Governor.  This  grant  was  confirmed 
in  1646.  When  resurveyed,  the  tract  was  found  to 
contain  one  thousand  and  ninety  acres;  and  to  this 
area,  there  was  now  added,  under  a  lease  for  twenty- 
one  years,  an  adjoining  tract  of  seventy  acres  carved 
out  of  the  estate  attached  to  the  Governor's  office.  The 
patent  to  the  entire  property  of  Green  Spring  was,  in 
1652,  renewed  to  Berkeley  and  Bennett  in  the  name 
of  the  Keepers  of  the  Liberties  of  England;  but  so  soon 
as  the  Commonwealth  came  to  an  end,  a  third  patent 
was  granted  to  Berkeley  alone  in  the  name  of  the  King; 
and  this  patent  was,  in  1664,  confirmed  by  the  Council, 
and  again  in  1674.  In  the  meanwhile,  the  lease  to  the 
small  tract  of  seventy  acres  had  also  been  devised  to 


Governor's  tract  had  been  laid  off;  see  British  Colonial  Papers, 
vol.  i.,  Doct.  53.     It  was,  doubtless,  this  mansion  which  was  desig- 
nated in  a  lease  to  Philip  Ludwell  as  "formerly  ye  mansion  house 
of  ye  Governors";  Va.  Maga.  of  Hist,  and  Biog.,  vol.  v.,  p.  245. 
1  British  Colonial  Papers,  vol.  vi.,  No.  54. 


The  Governor:  His  Residence       337 

Berkeley  for  a  term  of  ninety-nine  years.1  The 
dwelling  house  at  Green  Spring,  as  shown  by  the  ex- 
tent of  its  existing  ruins,  had  a  frontage  of  forty-eight 
feet  and  a  width  of  about  forty-three,  whilst  each  of  its 
wings  had  a  length  of  about  twenty-six  feet,  and  a 
breadth  of  about  sixteen.  There  was  a  thickness  of 
two  and  a  half  bricks  in  the  front  walls  above  the  water 
table,  and  of  two  bricks  on  either  side.  Each  fireplace 
had  a  width  of  about  four  feet  and  a  depth  of  about 
three  feet  and  eight  inches.  The  chimney  seems  to 
have  stood  directly  in  the  middle  of  the  building.  The 
whole  mansion  was  partitioned  off  into  six  rooms,  with 
a  central  hall  about  ten  feet  in  width  running  from  one 
end  of  it  to  the  other.2 

Culpeper  also  seems  to  have  resided  at  Green  Spring 
during  his  occupation  of  the  office  of  Governor. 
Howard,  except  when  the  General  Assembly  was  in 
session,  is  supposed  to  have  passed  the  greater  part  of 
his  time  at  Rosegill,  the  spacious  and  comfortable  home 
of  Colonel  Wormeley,  situated  in  Middlesex  county.3 
Like  Culpeper,  Howardwas  allowed  annually  one  hundred 
and  fifty  pounds  sterling  for  the  payment  of  house 
rent;  and  this  entire  sum  he  probably  continued  to 
save  by  using,  from  time  to  time,  the  hospitality  of 
the  members  of  his  Council.  Under  these  circum- 
stances, it  is  not  very  probable  that  he  obeyed  with 
zealous  alacrity  the  instruction  received  from  England 
to  propose  to  the  Assembly  the  building  of  a  Governor's 

1  Colonial  Entry  Book,  Acts  for  1674,  Va.  Maga.  of  Hist,  and 
Biog.,  vol.  v.,  p.  383.  From  the  numerous  confirmations,  it  looks 
as  if  Berkeley's  title  was  never  in  fee  simple,  although  that  con- 
clusion does  not  follow  positively. 

2  Tyler's  Cradle  of  the  Republic,  p.  108.  The  situation  of  the  chim- 
ney is  described  as  "central." 

3  Tyler's  Cradle  of  the  Republic,  p.  108. 

vol.  11. — 2  2 


338  Political  Condition 

mansion,  the  model  of  which  was  to  be  sent  to  the 
Commissioners  of  Plantations  for  approval.1  If  such 
a  model  was  ever  transmitted,  no  further  steps  were 
taken  during  Howard's  term  to  erect  the  dwelling  house 
under  advisement.  But  the  Commissioners  had  not 
dropped  the  project  from  their  thoughts;  in  169 1-2, 
Andros  was  ordered  by  them  to  choose  a  suitable  site 
for  such  a  mansion,  and  this  having  been  done,  to  call 
upon  the  General  Assembly  to  appropriate  a  sum  of 
money  sufficient  to  meet  all  the  expense  of  its  con- 
struction. He  was  also  commanded  to  send  to  England 
a  model  of  the  residence  as  soon  as  one  had  been  agreed 
upon.2  Only  a  short  time  before,  Lieut.-Gov.  Nichol- 
son, in  opening  the  session  of  the  House  of  Burgesses, 
had  urged  upon  their  attention  the  King's  wish  that  a 
dwelling  house  for  the  Governors  should  be  built.3  But 
neither  Nicholson  nor  Andros,  though  seeking  to  en- 
force a  royal  injunction,  were  able  to  induce  that  body 
to  provide  the  requisite  funds.  In  the  first  place,  the 
House  shrank  from  imposing  the  additional  taxation 
which  the  erection  of  an  official  mansion  would  have 
at  once  rendered  necessary;  such  a  mansion,  if  it  was  to 
be  commensurate  with  the  Governor's  dignity,  could 
only  have  been  constructed  by  mechanics  directly 
imported  from  England  for  that  purpose  at  great  ex- 
pense. In  the  second  place,  the  House  knew  very  well 
that  the  Governors  themselves  were  not  favorable  to 
the  erection  of  such  a  building,  as  it  would  inevitably 
increase  for  them  the  cost  of  living;  the  possession  of 
an  official  mansion  signified  that  the  Governor  would  be 


»  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1685-90,  p.  55. 

2  Instructions  to  Andros,  Feb.,  1 691-2,  B.  T.  Va.,  Entry  Book, 
vol.  xxxvi.,  p.  138. 

»  B.  T.  Va.,  1691,  No.  28. 


The  Governor:  His  Residence        339 

expected  to  entertain  very  lavishly,  a  course  which 
men  like  Howard  and  Culpeper,  whose  chief  aim  during 
their  stay  in  Virginia  was  to  enrich  themselves,  were 
determined  not  to  follow.  Such  a  consideration  also 
had  its  weight  with  Nicholson,  although  of  a  liberal 
spirit,  because  as  Lieut. -Governor  he  was  entitled  to 
only  one  half  of  the  emoluments  of  the  office,  a  sum 
hardly  sufficient  to  permit  him  to  throw  his  doors  wide 
open  to  the  throngs  of  prominent  citizens  gathering  at 
Jamestown  during  the  sessions  of  the  General  Court  and 
General  Assembly.  Even  when  he  became  Governor, 
he  does  not  seem  to  have  supported  with  heartiness  the 
project  of  building  a  permanent  residence  for  himself 
and  his  successors.  The  Commissioners  of  Plantations, 
finally  becoming  irritated  and  suspicious  in  consequence 
of  the  repeated  obstructions  to  the  consummation  of 
their  wishes,  openly  declared  that  the  real  stumbling 
block  was  the  annual  appropriation  of  one  hundred  and 
fifty  pounds  sterling  for  house  rent,  and  on  their 
recommendation,  the  King  decided  to  discontinue  this 
allowance.  In  informing  Nicholson  of  this  determin- 
ation, the  Commissioners  drily  remarked  that  they 
expected  soon  "to  hear  of  his  endeavours"  to  advance 
the  plan  of  erecting  a  Governor's  mansion.1  No  such 
mansion,  however,  was  built  at  Jamestown ;  and  within 
a  short  time  after  the  Commissioners'  letter  was  written, 
the  capital  was  removed  to  Middle  Plantation. 

1  B.  T.  Va.,  Entry  Book,  vol.  xxxvii.,  pp.  252,  334. 


CHAPTER  XI 
The  Governor:  His  Remuneration 

AS  already  stated,  the  Governor  of  Virginia  re- 
ceived, after  the  expiration  of  Berkeley's  term, 
who  possessed  a  house  of  his  own  at  Green  Spring, 
an  allowance  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  pounds  sterling 
each  year.  What  additional  income,  whether  in  the  form 
of  salary  or  perquisites,  did  he  derive  from  his  occupation 
of  the  position?  From  the  earliest  to  the  latest  decade 
in  the  Colony's  history  during  the  Seventeenth  century, 
the  incumbents  of  the  office  complained  of  the  insuffi- 
ciency of  their  remuneration;  and  there  was  just  ground 
for  this  discontent  on  the  part  of  those  Governors  who 
maintained  homes  of  their  own,  as  they  were  expected 
to  entertain  very  generously.  "The  place  I  hold  in 
this  Colony,"  wrote  President  Percy  to  his  brother, 
"cannot  be  defrayed  with  small  expense,  it  standing 
upon  my  reputation,  being  Governor  of  Jamestown,  to 
keep  a  continual  and  daily  table  for  gentlemen  of 
fashion  about  me."1  Recognizing  that  there  would 
be  extraordinary  charges  imposed  upon  the  Governor 
by  the  social  demands  of  his  office,  the  Company  sought, 
in  1618,  to  furnish  him  a  liberal  support  by  assigning 
to  the  position  in  perpetuity  a  tract  in  James  City 
Corporation  covering  three  thousand  acres.  This 
consisted  of  very  fertile  ground  either  seized  or  pur- 

1  See  Letter  in  Brown's  Genesis  of  the  United  States,  vol.  i.,  p.  500. 

340 


The  Governor  :  His  Remuneration     341 

chased  from  the  Paspeheigh  Indians,  and  situated  not 
far  from  Jamestown.1  The  plan  adopted  for  the  cul- 
tivation of  these  lands  was  to  bring  over  tenants  from 
England  selected  especially  for  their  experience  in 
tilling  the  soil  in  their  native  country.  Fifty  such 
tenants  were  imported  by  Yeardley  in  16 18  at  the 
Company's  expense.2  Ten  years  afterwards,  Lady 
Yeardley,  who  had  recently  become  a  widow,  delivered 
to  her  husband's  successor  seven  cows  and  five  heifers 
belonging  to  the  Governor's  estate.  This  number  of 
cattle  had  been  received  by  Yeardley,  when  he  had 
displaced  Wyatt.3  Down  to  1629  apparently,  the 
Governor's  support  was  derived  entirely  from  the  labor 
of  the  numerous  agricultural  tenants  and  servants  at- 
tached to  the  lands  assigned  to  his  office;  but  in  the 
course  of  that  year,  this  means  of  assuring  him  a  main- 
tenance, and  also,  no  doubt,  some  additional  remunera- 
tion, was  seriously  diminished,  if  not  nearly  destroyed, 
by  the  policy  now  adopted  of  leasing  the  lands  for  a 
period  of  ninety-nine  years  at  what  was  probably  a  small 
rental.4  Harvey  complained  very  bitterly  of  the  plight 
in  which  the  Governor's  office  was  left,  and  he  urged 
the  English  authorities  to  reserve  for  the  proper 
support  of  that  office  "the  customs  of  at  least  forty 
thousand  pounds  of  tobacco  to  be  annually  imported 
into    England    from    Virginia    upon   the    Governor's 


»  Va.  Maga.  of  Hist,  and  Biog.,  vol.  v.,  p.  245. 

2  See  Brown's  First  Republic,  p.  323;  Tyler's  Cradle  of  the  Re- 
public, p.  147.  "The  Governor  had  3000  acres  assigned  him  at 
the  mouth  of  the  Chickahominy  " ;  see  Letter  of  Wyatt,  1625,  Ran- 
dolph MS.,  vol.  iii.,  p.  181. 

3  Robinson  Transcripts,  p.  72. 

4  British  Colonial  Papers,  vol.  v.,  No.  22.  As  late  as  1637,  these 
leases  assured  some  income  for  the  office  of  Governor;  see  Accomac 
County  Records,  vol.  1632-40,  p.  94,  Va.  St.  Libr. 


342  Political  Condition 

own  account.' '  This  petition  was  approved,  and  an 
order  was  issued  that  payment  should  be  made  regu- 
larly on  the  twenty-fifth  of  every  March.  It  would 
seem,  however,  that  this  arrangement  was  to  terminate 
as  soon  as  Harvey's  administration  came  to  an  end.1 

Harvey's  predecessors  apparently  had  all  enjoyed  the 
benefit  of  the  fines  and  forfeitures  accruing  from  judicial 
sentences;  and  this  source  of  income  was  by  a  special 
royal  warrant  also  bestowed  on  him  in  consideration 
of  his  satisfactory  performance  of  his  duties  as  the 
presiding  judge  of  the  General  Court.2  He,  neverthe- 
less, remained  discontented;  and  not  unreasonably  so, 
for,  in  March,  1631,  the  House  of  Burgesses,  in  an 
address  to  the  Privy  Council,  testified  to  the  fact  that 
the  charge  on  his  pecuniary  means  was  so  heavy  and 
constant  that  he  was  compelled  to  spend  a  part  of  his 
private  estate  to  meet  his  public  expenses;  and  they 
urged  with  great  earnestness  that  he  should  be  paid  an 
adequate  salary.3  Harvey  himself  supplemented  this 
petition  with  a  prayer  that  the  Privy  Council  should 
■ '  take  his  case  into  their  compassionate  cares . ' '  During 
the  whole  of  his  term  so  far  as  it  had  then  passed,  he  had, 
according  to  his  own  declaration,  filled  the  office  of  Gov- 
ernor "without  any meanes  of  usuall  entertainment"  to 
enable  him  to  bear  the  great  drain  which  it  created  on 
his  purse.  "I  might  as  well  be  called  the  host  as  the 
Governor  of  Virginia,"  he  ruefully  added;  "if  some 
spedie  remidie  and  relief e  be  not  found  for  me,  not  only 
my  creditt  but  my  heart  will  break."4 

1  Propositions  of  Harvey  Touching  Virginia,  Aug.,  1629,  British 
Colonial  Papers,  vol.  v.,  Nos.  22,  23;  see  also  vol.  v.,  No.  94  I.        « 

2  British  Colonial  Papers,  vol.  v.,  No.  25. 

3  Randolph  MS.,  vol.  iii.,  p.  219. 

*  British  Colonial  Papers,  vol.  vi.,  No.  54.  The  date  of  this 
letter  was  May  27,  1632. 


The  Governor :  His  Remuneration     343 

It  is  to  be  inferred  from  a  petition  presented  by- 
Harvey  to  the  English  authorities  when  he  was  about 
to  return  to  Virginia  in  the  winter  of  1635-6  that  eight 
hundred  pounds  sterling  was  the  amount  generally 
provided  to  meet  the  cost  of  the  Governor's  transpor- 
tation to  the  Colony.  This  sum,  it  seems,  was  ordered 
to  be  paid  to  him  on  condition  that  he  supplied,  at 
his  own  expense,  the  victuals  which  would  be  needed 
by  his  ship's  company,  and  also  furnished  the  money 
to  meet  the  charge  of  the  seamen's  wages.  This  con- 
dition, it  would  appear,  really  imposed  an  extraordinary 
burden,  and  instead  of  leaving  him  with  some  balance 
in  his  favor,  would  have  subjected  him  to  a  positive 
loss.  Harvey,  in  calculating  the  probable  extent  of 
this  loss,  estimated  that  it  would  be  necessary  for  him 
to  provide  at  least  one  thousand  pounds  sterling;  in 
other  words,  he  would  be  compelled  to  pay  about  two 
hundred  pounds  sterling  in  excess  of  the  allowance  of 
eight  hundred;  and  on  his  representations  as  to  the 
damage  which  would  thus  fall  on  him,  he  was  granted 
permission  to  carry  over  to  the  Colony  such  a  quantity 
of  merchandize  as  would,  by  the  proceeds  from  its 
sale,  recoup  him  for  the  deficit.  The  ship  in  which 
he  sailed  proved  to  be  so  leaky  that  he  was  forced  to 
return  to  Plymouth;  and  he  finally  departed  for  Vir- 
ginia in  an  ordinary  merchantman  without  being  able 
to  take  with  him  either  his  goods  or  the  large  number 
of  persons  he  had  chosen  to  accompany  him.1 

By  1 63  7 ,  the  regular  salary  paid  to  the  Governor  seems 
to  have  amounted  to  one  thousand  pounds  sterling 


1  Petition  to  Privy  Council,  Febry.,  1635-6,  British  Colonial 
Papers,  vol.  ix.,  Nos.  4,  5,  6,  11,  27.  In  a  later  communication 
to  the  Privy  Council,  Harvey  stated  that  the  allowance  made  to  a 
Governor  setting  out  for  Virginia  was  five  hundred  pounds  sterling. 


344  Political  Condition 

annually.1  Not  long  after  Berkeley  undertook  the 
duties  of  the  office,  he  not  only  obtained  the  grant 
to  the  Green  Spring  estate,  already  referred  to,  but  also 
received  as  a  gift  from  the  Assembly,  "in  consideration 
of  many  favors  manifested  towards  the  Colony,"  two 
houses  and  an  orchard  situated  within  the  confines  of 
Jamestown.2  It  seems  probable  that,  in  the  beginning, 
he  occupied  one  of  these  houses  as  a  residence,  but  later 
on  both  appear  to  have  been  rented  out  with  a  view 
to  increasing  his  income.  The  civil  commotions  in 
England  having  caused  the  suspension  of  the  payment 
of  the  Governor's  regular  salary,  derived,  no  doubt, 
as  in  Harvey's  time,  from  the  duties  on  the  tobacco 
imported  into  the  Kingdom,  the  Assembly  found  it 
necessary  to  pass  a  special  Act  to  provide  the  Governor 
with  a  definite  and  reliable  support.  That  body,  how- 
ever, was  at  great  pains  to  declare  that  this  provision 
was  designed  to  be  only  for  a  time,  and  that  it  should 
not  carry  the  weight  of  a  precedent.  The  preamble 
to  this  Act  throws  an  interesting  light  on  the  spirit 
animating  the  Burgesses  at  that  remote  day.  "We 
have  an  eye  to  the  Honor  of  the  (Governor's)  place,"  so 
it  ran,"  but  also  have  entered  into  a  deep  sense  and  con- 
sideration of  the  duty  and  trust  which  the  public  votes 
and  suffrages  have  cast  upon  us,  under  which  is  compre- 
hended as  the  most  special  and  binding  obligation,  the 
preservation  of  the  rights  and  properties  of  the  people, 
which  the  course  now  intended  seems  to  threaten." 
"Since  the  foundation  of  the  Colony,"  they  proceeded  to 
state,  "there  had  been  no  such  concurrence  or  pressure 
of  affairs,  and  they  hope  to  God  it  will  never  be  again" ; 
therefore,  in  order  to  meet  what  was  perhaps  considered 

1  British  Colonial  Papers,  vol.  i.,  Doct.  20. 

2  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  i.,  p.  267. 


The  Governor  :  His  Remuneration     345 

to  be  an  emergency  certain  to  pass  as  soon  as  affairs 
became  settled  in  England,  so  as  to  allow  the  authorities 
there  to  resume  payment  of  the  salary  as  before,  the 
Assembly  directed  a  public  tax,  amounting  to  two 
shillings  for  each  tithable,  to  be  levied  and  delivered 
to  the  collectors,  not  in  the  form  of  money  or  tobacco, 
but  in  the  form  of  corn,  wheat,  malt,  beef,  pork,  peas, 
capons,  calves,  goats,  kids,  turkeys,  geese,  butter,  and 
cheese.1  This  unusual  requirement  shows  how  tem- 
porary this  Act  was  designed  to  be,  but  circumstances 
soon  made  the  regulation  a  permanent  one.  The  royal 
government  in  England  was  now  sinking  steadily  into 
deeper  ruin,  and  if  the  head  of  the  administration  in 
Virginia  had  been  compelled  to  rely  upon  the  English 
customs  during  this  period  of  commotion  for  his  only 
support,  he  would  have  gone  a  very  long  time  without 
any  remuneration  whatever  for  his  services.  His 
maintenance  having  been  once  thrown  on  the  colonists, 
there  was  no  real  prospect  of  its  being  again  transferred 
to  the  English  treasury;  and  in  indulging  such  a  hope, 
the  General  Assembly  itself  was  probably  secretly 
aware  that  it  was  nursing  a  mere  delusion,  and  in 
formally  expressing  that  hope  was  simply  preparing 
the  people  to  assume  the  new  burden  uncomplainingly. 
Four  years  after  this  special  tax  was  imposed  for  the 
Governor's  benefit,  we  find  it  still  laid  with  the  regu- 
larity of  the  ordinary  assessments  for  other  public 
purposes.  An  apportionment  was  made  for  each 
county  in  proportion  to  the  number  of  its  tithables. 
Sometimes,  one  county  would  pay  its  share  in  tobacco 
alone,  and  another  in  grain  and  provisions ;  sometimes, 
the  same  county  would  pay  in  all  three  forms.  For 
instance,  in  Lower  Norfolk,  in  1647,  the  portion  of  the 

1  Herring's  Statutes,  vol.  i.,  p.   280. 


346  Political  Condition 

Governor's  salary  assigned  to  that  county  for  collection 
consisted  entirely  of  tobacco;  four  years  afterwards, 
each  tithable  residing  there  was  required  to  contribute, 
in  addition  to  a  certain  amount  of  tobacco,  at  least  half 
a  bushel  of  corn,  which  was  ordered  to  be  delivered  at  a 
designated  place. l  All  the  other  counties  were  directed 
to  follow  the  same  course. 

After  the  establishment  of  the  Commonwealth,  the 
same  method  of  raising  the  Governor's  salary  was 
strictly  adhered  to.  There  were,  in  1654,  fourteen 
collectors  of  public  taxes  in  Lancaster  county,  and  each 
was  entered  in  the  records  as  responsible  for  the  pay- 
ment to  Governor  Bennett  of  a  specific  proportion  of 
the  tobacco  which  they  should  receive.  This  single 
county  contributed  during  this  year  not  less  than 
thirteen  thousand  pounds  of  tobacco  to  the  maintenance 
of  that  officer;  it  is,  however,  possible  that  a  part  of 
this  sum  represented  what  had  been  in  arrear  for  a 
considerable  period2;  or  it  may  be  that  an  unusually 
large  levy  was,  at  this  time,  laid  for  his  benefit  through- 
out the  Colony,  since  only  two  years  afterwards,  the 
amount  of  his  salary  proper  was  fixed  at  twenty-five 
thousand  pounds  of  that  commodity.  This  was 
intended  to  be  the  principal  remuneration  for  his 
services  during  the  course  of  every  twelve  months,  but 
in  addition  he  was  allowed,  as  a  permanent  part  of  his 
official  income,  the  varying  and  probably  never  very 
large  sums  derived  from  the  fees  paid  into  the  hands  of 
the  commander  of  the  fort  at  Point  Comfort  by  the 
incoming  ships,  and  also  from  the  fees  accruing  from 
marriage  and  other  licenses.3     In  the  York  county  levy 

*  Lower  Norfolk  County  Records,  vol.  1646-51,  pp.  57,  200. 
3  Lancaster  County  Records,  vol.  1652-56,  p.  174. 
9  Randolph  MS.,  vol.  iii.,  p.  268;  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  i.,  pp. 
498,   523- 


The  Governor  :  His  Remuneration     347 

for  November,  1657,  an  assessment  in  favor  of  the  then 
Governor  to  the  extent  of  five  thousand  pounds  of 
tobacco  was  entered;  and  so  in  the  levy  in  Lower 
Norfolk  for  November,  1659.  After  1660,  the  amount 
of  this  commodity  collected  in  the  different  counties 
seems  to  have  been  even  larger;  for  instance,  in  York, 
in  1 66 1,  thirty-four  thousand  pounds  were  contributed 
by  its  tithables  alone;  in  1665,  thirteen  thousand;  in 
1668,  eight  thousand;  whilst  in  1661  about  seventeen 
thousand  were  levied  in  Lower  Norfolk  also ;  and  the 
proportion  for  the  years  following  was  of  the  like 
volume.  Berkeley  had  now  been  recommissioned 
Governor,  and  his  popularity  was  no  doubt  reflected 
in  this  extraordinary  public  liberality  in  his  favor. 
In  1659-60,  his  annual  salary  had  been  definitely 
fixed  at  fifty  thousand  pounds  of  tobacco;  nor  did  his 
remuneration  stop  there, — by  a  formal  Act  of  Assembly, 
the  castle  duties,1  and  the  fees  derived  from  the  grant- 
ing of  various  licenses,  enjoyed  by  his  predecessor, 
were  continued  to  him2 ;  and  he  also  received  as  a  gift 
the  round  sum  of  seven  hundred  pounds  sterling  out 
of  the  fund  accumulated  from  the  proceeds  of  the  tax 
of  two  shillings  imposed  on  each  hogshead  of  tobacco 
exported  from  the  Colony.     Moreover,  by  a  second 

1  The  castle  duties  were  at  a  later  date  restored  to  Morryson, 
to  whom  they  really  belonged  as  captain  of  the  fort  at  Point  Com- 
fort (see  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  ii.,  p.  9),  but  Berkeley  received, 
by  way  of  composition  for  their  loss,  sixty  thousand  pounds  of 
tobacco. 

2  In  1660,  every  inn-keeper,  before  he  could  obtain  a  license  to 
retail  liquor,  was  required  to  give  bond  that  he  would  pay  annually 
350  lbs.  of  tobacco  for  the  use  of  the  Governor;  Hening's  Statutes, 
vol.  ii.,  p.  19.  Campbell  estimated  the  income  of  this  officer  at  this 
time  at  $12,000,  but  it  was  probably  nearer  $20,000,  if  we  consider 
simply  its  purchasing  power.  See  Campbell's  History  of  Va.t 
p.  253.     Later  on,  it  fell  little  short  of  $40,000. 


348  Political  Condition 

Act,  he  was  entitled  to  be  paid  one  bushel  of  corn  by 
every  tithable  residing  in  Virginia;  and  two  persons 
were  specially  appointed  in  each  parish  to  see  that  this 
grain  was  delivered  at  some  place  from  which  it  would 
be  convenient  to  transport  it  by  vessel.1 

Berkeley  seems  to  have  possessed  an  unusual  power 
of  influencing  the  Privy  Council  as  well  as  the  General 
Assembly  to  increase  the  rewards  for  his  personal 
services,  a  fact  probably  due  both  to  his  undoubted 
sacrifices  for  the  royal  cause  when  its  prospects  were 
most  overclouded,  and  to  his  extravagant,  though 
sincere,  expressions  of  loyalty  and  fidelity  to  the  King 
after  the  Restoration.  The  former  body,  in  1661, 
granted  him  for  his  own  personal  use  the  sum  of  two 
thousand  pounds  sterling  from  the  total  amount  of 
duties  and  customs  payable  by  the  first  ships  which 
should  arrive  in  England  with  cargoes  of  tobacco  from 
Virginia.  This  valuable  gift  of  money  was  made 
(so  the  Privy  Council  declared)  not  only  in  recognition 
of  his  meritorious  conduct  as  Governor  of  the  Colony, 
but  also  as  a  complete  acquittance  of  all  the  unfulfilled 
engagements  which  either  Charles  I  or  Charles  II  had 
undertaken  to  perform  in  his  behalf.2 

In  the  course  of  1662,  the  Council  for  Foreign  Plan- 
tations ordered  that  the  annual  salary  of  one  thousand 
pounds  sterling,  formerly  paid  to  the  Governor,  should 
be  renewed;  but  it  does  not  seem  to  be  quite  clear 
whether  it  was  to  be  collected  out  of  the  English 
customs  and  duties,  or,  as  previously,  by  a  levy  on  the 
different  tithables  residing  in  the  Colony.  The  latter 
appears  to  be  the  correct  view,3  for,  as  we  have  seen,  the 


»  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  i.,  p.  546;  vol.  ii.,  p.  10. 

2  See  Warrant  Sept.  12,  1661,  Dom.  Chas.  II. 

3  Proceedings  of  Council  for  Foreign  Plantations,  Aug.  11,  1662, 


The  Governor  :  His  Remuneration     349 

counties,  after  this  year,  continued  to  contribute  large 
sums  for  the  Governor's  support.  The  assessment  in 
Lancaster  county  for  October,  1665,  contained  one 
item  in  Berkeley's  favor  amounting  to  over  thirty- 
five  thousand  pounds  of  tobacco;  in  1666,  to  twenty- 
five  thousand;  in  1668,  to  eighteen  thousand;  in  1670, to 
fifty-five  hundred;  and  in  1 671,  to  twenty- five  hundred. 
The  records  for  other  counties  reveal  the  levying  of 
equally  large  sums  from  year  to  year.  Although  the 
Governor's  salary  was  fixed  at  one  thousand  pounds 
sterling  annually,  it  was  always  calculated  in  pounds 
of  tobacco,  and  collected  in  that  form.  The  General 
Assembly,  in  1674,  added  two  hundred  pounds  sterling 
to  the  amount  Berkeley  was  legally  entitled  to  receive ; 
but  this  was  designed  as  a  reward  for  special  services; 
and  the  Act  expressly  disclaimed  the  intention  of 
establishing  a  precedent  for  his  successors.1 

Berkeley  and  the  Governors  chosen  during  the  period 
of  the  Commonwealth  had  become  citizens  of  Virginia 
either  by  permanent  settlement  or  by  prolonged  resi- 

British  Colonial  Papers,  vol.  xiv.  "It  being  put  to  the  question 
whether  the  Colony  of  Virginia  should  bear  its  own  charge  and  no 
longer  be  burdensome  to  the  Crown,  &c.,  this  Council  is  of  the 
opinion  it  should  bear  its  own  charge  and  do  humbly  advise  his 
Majesty  to  recommend  the  Colony  the  paying  and  raising  a  revenue 
for  that  purpose  " ;  see  Proceedings,  British  Colonial  Papers,  vol.  xiv., 
No.  59. 

1  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  ii.,  p.  314.  Berkeley  was  reported  as 
saying  of  Col.  Jeffreys,  his  successor:  "Col.  Jeffreys  should  have 
his  ;£ioo  per  month  from  his  first  coming  into  the  country,  and  for 
the  time  he  stayed  .  .  .  And  further,"  he  added,  "that  at  ye 
year's  end  (the  place  was  so  expensefull)  Col.  Jeffreys  would  find 
his  hundred  pounds  a  month  would  not  give  himself  his  bread. " 
And  when  Col.  Jeffreys  asked  of  Sir  William  how  he  should  come 
to  his  salary  of  a  hundred  pounds  a  month  after  Sir  William  was 
gone,  the  latter  sharply  replied:  "Before  God,  you  must  look  to 
that  as  I  have  done."  See  British  Colonial  Papers,  vol.  xliii., 
No.  143. 


350  Political  Condition 

dence  there,  and  as  such  were  thoroughly  in  touch  with 
its  various  interests.  Culpeper,  although  at  first  ap- 
pointed to  the  office  for  the  term  of  his  natural  life, 
was  never  really  identified  with  these  interests,  and,  like 
Howard,  looked  upon  his  incumbency  as  a  means  of 
enriching  himself  by  every  device  in  his  reach.  His 
patent  required  that  he  should  be  paid  at  least  one 
thousand  pounds  sterling  each  year;  and  in  addition  to 
this,  he  received  the  grant  (which  had  been  enjoyed  by 
his  predecessors,  and  was  to  pass  to  his  successors  also) 
of  a  general  tax  of  twenty  shillings  on  every  vessel 
arriving  in  the  Colony.  Culpeper  persuaded  the  King 
to  increase  the  salary  of  his  post  to  two  thousand  pounds 
sterling  annually,  a  sum  equal  in  purchasing  power 
to  fifty  thousand  dollars  in  our  present  currency,  an 
enormous  remuneration  for  the  services  of  a  provincial 
official.  This  remained  the  permanent  salary  of  the 
Governors;  and  it  was  swelled  by  the  allowance  of 
one  hundred  and  fifty  pounds  sterling  for  house  rent, 
as  well  as  by  occasional  special  gifts  from  the  Assembly ; 
for  instance,  this  body  granted  Culpeper  a  sum  of  five 
hundred  pounds  sterling,  and  Nicholson  three  hundred, 
as  an  evidence  of  its  appreciation  of  certain  services 
they  had  respectively  performed.  The  remuneration 
received  by  the  Governors  after  Culpeper's  appoint- 
ment was  assured  by  appropriations  out  of  the  fund 
accumulated  from  the  tax  of  two  shillings  on  each 
exported  hogshead  as  well  as  from  the  duties  paid  by 
the  ships  trading  with  the  Colony.  The  salary  was 
disbursed  quarterly ,  and  constituted  the  first  lien  on  the 
moneys  lying  in  the  treasury  at  the  time  it  fell  due.1 

*  Robinson  Transcripts,  p.  178;  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1689-95, 
p.  93;  B.  T.  Va.,  1691,  Nos.  16,  25,  29;  also  vol.  vii.,  p.  118;  Present 
State  of  Virginia,  1697-8,  Section  iv.     Beverley  declared  with  some 


The  Governor:  His  Remuneration    351 

The  tribute  in  the  form  of  beaver  skins  received  annu- 
ally from  the  Indians  was  valued  at  fifty  pounds  sterling; 
and  during  Howard's  incumbency,  these  furs  were 
considered  to  be  a  perquisite  of  his  office.1 

feeling  that  Culpeper's  request  for  an  increased  salary  was  fa- 
vorably received  because  he  was  a  peer;  History  of  Virginia,  p.  188. 
One  of  the  instructions  to  the  Governor  of  Virginia  about  1682  was 
to  the  following  effect :  ' '  All  Acts  for  raising  money  for  a  Governor 
shall  say  the  money  is  to  be  given  or  granted  to  his  Majesty  with 
humble  desires  that  ye  same  may  be  applyed  to  ye  use  of  such 
Governor,  etc.";  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1681-5,  P-  93- 
1  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1680-95,  p.  224. 


CHAPTER  XII 
The  Governor:  State  and  Dignity 

AS  the  representative  of  the  King  and  as  the  chief 
executive  and  judicial  officer  of  the  Colony,  the 
Governor  was  hedged  about  with  a  great  deal 
of  state.  Almost  from  the  foundation  of  the  Colony, 
he  was  allowed  a  considerable  body  guard;  as  early  as 
1623,  for  instance,  the  number  of  soldiers  in  immediate 
attendance  on  Wyatt  was  thirty,  a  special  corps  granted 
by  the  General  Assembly  and  paid  for  out  of  the  public 
levy.1  The  body  guard  in  1643  perhaps  contained  the 
same  number  of  men2 ;  but  by  1648,  it  had  been  reduced 
to  ten,  who  had  been  carefully  selected  for  their  physical 
strength.  The  reason  given  for  this  discrimination  in 
choosing  them  was  that  the  Governor's  life  was  in  con- 
stant danger  both  from  the  Indians  visiting  him  under 
pretence  of  entering  into  formal  treaties,  and  from 
persons  whose  sympathy  with  the  Parliamentarians 
in  England  had  thrown  them  into  a  state  of  violent 
disaffection  towards  the  Colonial  officers.3 

During  the  existence  of  the  Protectorate,  the  Gover- 
nor apparently  was  unattended  by  a  body  guard,  for 

1  Wyatt  to  Ferrer,  British  Colonial  Papers,  vol.  ii.,  No.  26. 
William  Pierce  was  the  captain  of  the  guard  at  this  time;  see  Ran- 
dolph MS.,  vol.  iii.,  p.  175. 

2  Robinson  Transcripts,  p.  238. 

3  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  i.,  p.  355. 

352 


The  Governor  :  State  and  Dignity     353 

as  soon  as  Berkeley  was  restored  to  his  old  position,  the 
Assembly  declared  it  to  be  urgently  necessary  that  such 
a  guard  should  be  created  for  his  honor  and  protection. 
The  Act  passed  in  consequence  provided  that  twenty 
men  should  compose  his  escort;  and  that  he  should 
enjoy  the  privilege  of  nominating  the  officer  to  be 
placed  in  command  of  it.  This  little  force  was  to  be 
subject  in  general  to  the  orders  of  Berkeley  alone; 
and  was  to  support  him  on  all  public  occasions,  es- 
pecially during  the  sessions  of  the  General  Court  and  the 
General  Assembly.  The  only  reservation  in  granting 
him  complete  control  over  it  was  that,  while  the  House 
of  Burgesses  was  sitting,  one  half  of  the  corps  was  to 
serve  as  a  guard  for  that  body  under  an  officer  whom  it 
would  itself  designate.  The  commander  of  the  whole 
corps  received  a  salary  of  five  thousand  pounds  of  to- 
bacco annually;  and  each  soldier  two  thousand  pounds.1 
In  1674,  the  Governor's  escort  was  increased  in  number 
to  twenty-four  men ;  and  Berkeley  was  allowed  twenty- 
four  thousand  pounds  of  tobacco  out  of  the  public 
levy  for  their  accommodation  at  Green  Spring.2 

All  the  Governors,  as  was  natural,  were  very  jealous 
of  maintaining  the  dignity  of  their  office.  When  James 
Read,  the  blacksmith,  struck  President  Ratcliffe,  he 
was  arrested  at  once  and  promptly  sentenced  to  be 
hanged,  on  the  theory  probably  that  he  had  been 
guilty  of  treason  in  laying  hands  on  the  King's  repre- 
sentative, although  that  representative  had  inflicted 
the  first  blow,  and  Read  was  really  acting  in  self- 
defence.     He  was  able  to  save  his  life  only  by  revealing 

1  Randolph  MS.,  vol.  iii.,  p.  283.  The  commanding  officer  could 
only  be  sued  with  the  leave  of  the  Governor:  Va.  Maga.  of  Hist, 
and  Biog.t  vol.  ix.,  p.  187. 

2  Orders  of  Assembly,  March,  1674-5,  Colonial  Entry  Book,  vol. 
Ixxxvi. 

VOL.   II. — 23. 


354  Political  Condition 

a  plot  hatched  by  Captain  Kendall ;  and  the  latter,  in 
consequence,  was  led  out  and  shot  to  death.1  Daniel 
Cugley,  for  uttering  abusive  words  against  the  Governor 
and  Council  in  1630,  was  ordered  to  be  committed  to 
the  pillory,  but  was  pardoned,  no  doubt  in  consideration 
of  his  haste  to  offer  an  apology.2  Thirty-two  years 
later,  George  Harwood  was  compelled  to  kneel  in  court 
and  implore  forgiveness  for  using  disrespectful  language 
about  Deputy-Governor  Morryson  3 ;  and  perhaps  a 
severer  judgment  still  was,  in  1668,  imposed  on  one  of 
the  justices  of  the  peace  who  had  been  found  guilty  of 
the  like  offence.4  When,  in  1673,  Benjamin  Eggleston 
was  convicted  of  having  spoken  "  presumptuously  and 
impudently"  of  the  prerogative,  and  contemptuously 
of  the  Governor's  authority,  he  was  sentenced  to  be 
publicly  whipped  at  Jamestown,  unless  he  consented 
to  pay  three  thousand  pounds  of  tobacco,  to  be  spent 
in  the  purchase  of  arms  for  the  Colony.5  Only  three 
years  later,  John  Watts  and  John  Hanning,  of  Accomac, 
were  arrested  for  referring  in  a  derogatory  manner  to 
the  Governor,  and  kept  in  custody  until  they  had  given 
satisfactory  bond  to  appear  in  the  General  Court  at 
Jamestown  to  answer  for  their  slanderous  words.6  So 
sacred  was  the  dignity  of  the  mere  office  considered  to  be 
that  not  even  Berkeley  after  he  had  left  Virginia  under 
a  cloud  of  odium,  and  had  fallen  into  a  state  of  neglect 
and  impotence,  was  allowed  to  be  made  the  target  of 
evil  tongues;  in  1677,  John  Sandford,  of  Lower  Norfolk 
county,  was  accused  of  reflecting  on  the  reputation  of 


»  Brown's  First  Republic,  p.  53. 

2  Randolph  MS.,  vol.  iii.,  p.  215. 

3  Campbell's  History  of  Virginia,  p.  257. 
*  Robinson  Transcripts,  p.  256. 

5  General  Court  Records,  vol.  1670-76,  p.  155. 

6  Accomac  County  Records,  vol.  1676-78,  p.  16. 


The  Governor:  State  and  Dignity     355 

the  unhappy  old  man,  and  he  was  not  suffered  to  depart 
from  the  Colony,  which  he  designed  doing  at  the  time, 
until  he  had  answered  to  the  General  Court  for  his 
scandalous  attack.1  The  House  of  Burgesses  itself 
seems  to  have  taken  the  chief  part  in  such  prosecutions 
when  the  person  guilty  of  the  offence  was  a  member 
of  that  body.  An  order  was  presented  by  the  Assembly 
to  the  Governor  in  1699  requesting  him  to  instruct  the 
Attorney-General  to  enter  a  criminal  action  against 
Major  Thomas  Godwin  and  Andrew  Ross  for  defama- 
tory and  abusive  words  touching  himself.  Both  of  these 
men  were  probably  members  of  the  House,  and  perhaps 
had  made  the  objectionable  speeches  in  its  chamber 
during  the  course  of  a  sitting.2 

Actual  mutiny  against  the  Governor,  or  words  tend- 
ing to  incite  open  sedition,  were  punished  with  even 
greater  severity  because  calculated  to  disturb  the  peace 
of  the  community.  Captain  Kendall,  as  we  have  seen, 
was  deliberately  put  to  death  on  the  testimony  of  a 
single  witness  for  a  supposed  plot  against  the  authori- 
ties. The  martial  code  enforced  by  Dale  was  equally 
stern  and  summary  in  the  penalty  it  imposed  for  the 
same  offence.  But  the  most  remarkable  case  of  mutiny 
recorded  in  these  early  times  was  that  which  led  to 
Harvey's  deposition.  According  to  Harvey  himself, 
it  had  its  origin  in  the  false  rumor  that  he  was  only 
awaiting  a  safe  opportunity  to  betray  the  fort  at  Point 
Comfort  into  the  hands  of  the  Roman  Catholics,  who 
had  recently  made  a  settlement  in  Maryland.3  The 
real  cause,  however,  as  stated  by  Samuel  Mathews,  lay 
in  the  popular  opposition  to  Harvey's  countenancing 
the  division  of  the  Colony;  to  his  imposing,  on  his  own 

•  Lower  Norfolk  County  Records,  Orders  Aug.  16,  1677. 
2  Minutes  of  Council  June  5,  1699,  B.  T.  Va.,  vol.  Hi. 

*  British  Colonial  Papers,  vol.  viii.,  No.  73. 


356  Political  Condition 

responsibility,  oppressive  taxes;  and  to  his  usurping 
various  powers  regardless  of  the  advice  and  disapproval 
of  the  Council,  to  whose  consideration  this  body- 
claimed  he  was  bound  by  law  to  submit  all  his  designs 
and  plans.  It  would  appear  also  that  his  personal 
bearing,  especially  while  presiding  in  the  General  Court, 
had  given  just  ground  for  umbrage  to  his  associates.1 
There  were  charges  and  countercharges  of  disloyalty. 
Menefie  accused  Harvey  to  his  face  of  intentionally 
neglecting  to  send  to  the  King  information  of  the  Assem- 
bly's positive  refusal  to  accept  the  royal  offer  for  the 
entire  tobacco  crop  of  the  Colony.  At  this  charge, 
Harvey  rose  in  great  excitement  from  his  seat.  "  I 
arrest  you,"  he  cried  out  to  his  assailant,  "for  the  crime 
of  treason."  Captains  Utie  and  Mathews  seized  the 
indignant  Governor  by  the  shoulder  and  held  him  down 
in  his  chair.  "We  arrest  you,"  they  exclaimed,  "on 
suspicion  of  treason  to  his  Majesty."  Dr.  Pott,  step- 
ping to  the  window,  waved  his  hand,  and  straightway 
forty  musketeers  marched  up  to  the  door  of  the  Gover- 
nor's house  where  the  Council  was  sitting. 

So  much  were  the  passions  of  the  people  aroused  by 
the  news  of  this  stormy  scene  that  Kemp  urged  Harvey 
to  leave  the  Colony  at  once,  in  order  to  escape  violence 
to  his  person;  and  that  there  was  really  a  constant 
danger  that  he  would  be  assaulted  was  shown  by  the 
precaution  which  the  Council  itself  took  in  providing 
him  with  a  guard  for  his  protection.  The  four  men 
chiefly  responsible  for  Harvey's  forcible  removal  from 
office  were  John  West,  who  succeeded  him  at  once  in 
the  post  of  Governor:  Samuel  Mathews,  who  had  also 
given  offence  by  opposing  the  royal  offer  for  the  Colony's 

»  See  Mathews's  Letter  to  Wolstoneholme,  May  25,  1635,  British 
Colonial  Papers,  vol.  viii.,  No.  65. 


The  Governor  :  State  and  Dignity      357 

annual  crop  of  tobacco,  and  by  defiantly  asserting,  when 
it  was  proposed  to  limit  the  amount  of  that  crop,  that 
the  King  himself  could  not  prevent  him  from  producing 
as  much  of  this  commodity  as  he  chose  on  his  own 
land;  Captain  William  Pierce,  who  had  brought  a 
company  of  musketeers  to  Jamestown  in  anticipation 
of  trouble  with  the  Governor,  and  had  promptly  used 
this  military  force  at  the  critical  moment;  and  finally 
George  Menefie,  who  had  demanded  and  received  of 
Harvey  his  Commission  and  Instructions  as  soon  as  he 
was  declared  to  be  deposed.1 

The  greatest  insurrection  which  occurred  in  Virginia 
during  the  whole  Colonial  period  was  that  of  1676,  led 
by  the  younger  Nathaniel  Bacon,  but  it  was  not  directed 
exclusively,  like  the  mutiny  of  1635,  against  the 
Governor.  It  was  brought  about  by  abuses  for  which 
the  vestries  and  the  General  Assembly  were  as  respon- 
sible as  Berkeley  himself,  although  it  is  not  probable 
that  the  action  of  these  bodies  would  have  been  so  ex- 
treme had  not  the  Governor's  influence  been  thrown 
into  the  same  scale  to  the  encouragement  of  all  who 
were  selfish  in  spirit  and  unscrupulous  in  conduct, 
especially  as  related  to  political  affairs. 

1  British  Colonial  Papers,  vol.  viii.,  Nos.  6i,  85. 


CHAPTER  XIII 
The  Council:   Its  Membership 

AMONGST  the  foremost  men  residing  in  the  Colony 
during  the  Seventeenth  century  were  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Governor's  Council;  who,  from  the 
earliest  to  the  latest  decade,  were  invariably  chosen 
from  the  body  of  the  wealthiest,  most  capable,  and  most 
influential  citizens  of  Virginia.  It  was  expressly  en- 
joined in  the  instructions  received  by  the  Governors 
from  time  to  time  that  no  one  should  be  appointed 
Councillor  known  to  be  lacking  in  estate  and  in  ability. 
In  giving  Howard  directions  as  to  the  character  and 
condition  of  the  persons  whom  he  should  nominate  to 
seats  at  the  board,  he  was,  with  great  particularity, 
warned  to  avoid  making  choice  of  "  necessitous  people, 
or  people  much  in  debt.,,1  It  reveals  how  strictly  the 
prerequisite  that  each  member  of  the  Council  should 
own  a  large  amount  of  property  was  enforced  that 
Nicholson,  although,  in  1691,  very  anxious  to  appoint 
Colonel  Thomas  Milner,  a  man  who  had,  with  distinc- 
tion, occupied  the  honorable  and  responsible  post  of 
Speaker  of  the  House  of  Burgesses,  nevertheless  was 
prevented  from  recommending  him  by  the  fact  that  he 
was  not  in  possession  of  sufficient  estate.2     This  dis- 

1  Instructions  to  Howard,  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1685-90,  p.  23. 

2  B.  T.  Va.,  1691;  see  Nicholson's  Letter  dated  June  10,  1691, 
No.  41. 

358 


The  Council:  Its  Membership         359 

crimination  did  not  have  its  origin  in  such  a  purely- 
sentimental  cause  as  the  desire  to  maintain  the  ex- 
traordinary dignity  of  the  office  by  choosing  to  fill  it 
only  men  enjoying  the  highest  consideration  in  the  com- 
munity; the  care  in  selecting  members  of  the  Board 
among  persons  of  property  was  attributable  to  the 
very  practical  fact  that  the  Councillor  served  both  as 
naval  officer  and  as  collector  of  customs  for  the  district 
in  which  he  resided;  that  as  such  he  had  the  custody  of 
very  large  sums  of  money;  and  that  unless  he  owned  a 
competent  estate,  any  default  on  his  part  would  entail 
a  permanent  loss  to  the  Colony.  Should  he,  however, 
possess  a  large  property,  any  deficit  in  his  accounts 
could  soon  be  covered  by  its  sale.1 

Wealthy  and  prominent  both  socially  and  politically 
as  the  citizen  must  be  to  become  a  member  of  the 
Council,  his  nomination  to  that  office  at  once  greatly 
enhanced  his  importance  in  the  community.  This  fact 
was  not  reflected  merely  in  an  increase  in  personal  dig- 
nity; appointment  to  the  Board  was  one  of  the  surest 
means  existing  in  the  Colony  of  trebling  and  quadrup- 
ling a  fortune,  owing  to  the  large  salaries  of  the  numer- 
ous very  lucrative  offices  that  went  with  it.  Nor  did 
the  performance  of  the  duties  incident  to  these  offices 
interfere  in  the  slightest  degree  with  the  incumbent's 
accumulating  property  by  engaging  at  the  same  time 
in  the  calling  of  a  planter  and  the  business  of  a  trader 
in  tobacco  and  merchandise,  the  only  avenues  open  to 
the  average  citizen  by  which  he  could  add  to  his  estate. 
What  were  these  offices?  Firstly,  when  the  Governor 
and  Lieutenant  or  Deputy-Governor  were  absent  from 
Virginia,  the  President  of  the  Council  became  the 
acting  chief  magistrate  of  the  Colony  at  an  annual 

1  B.  T.  Va.  1699,  vol.  vii.,  p.  150. 


360  Political  Condition 

remuneration  of  five  hundred  pounds  sterling ;  secondly, 
the  entire  number  of  Councillors  constituted  the  Upper 
House  of  the  General  Assembly,  and  in  the  various 
powers  exercised  by  them  in  that  character  closely 
resembled  the  English  House  of  Lords;  thirdly,  in 
association  with  the  Governor,  they  formed  the  General 
Court,  which  concentrated  in  itself  the  several  juris- 
dictions of  the  Chancery,  King's  Bench,  Common  Pleas, 
Exchequer,  Admiralty  and  Ecclesiastical  Courts  of 
England;  fourthly,  they  served  as  commanders-in-chief 
or  colonels  of  their  respective  groups  of  counties,  and 
as  such  possessed  privileges  closely  analogous  to  those 
of  the  English  Lords- Lieutenant;  fifthly,  they  acted  as 
naval  officers,  and  in  that  capacity  were  called  on  to 
enforce  all  laws  passed  by  Parliament  and  the  General 
Assembly  for  the  advancement  of  trade  and  navigation, 
and  as  naval  officers,  they  also  entered  and  cleared  all 
vessels;  sixthly,  they  were  the  collectors  of  the  export 
duty  of  two  shillings  a  hogshead,  and  of  all  other  duties 
of  the  like  nature,  such,  for  instance,  as  the  one  penny 
a  pound  imposed  on  tobacco  shipped  from  Virginia  to 
another  English  colony  in  America;  seventhly,  they 
were  the  farmers  of  the  quitrents,  which  they  obtained 
from  the  Auditor  on  very  low  bids;  eighthly,  they 
acted  as  escheators,  an  office  very  lucrative  in  itself  and 
offering  unusual  opportunities  for  profitable  invest- 
ment; and  finally,  such  exalted  positions  as  those  of 
Secretary  and  Auditor  of  the  Colony  were  always  filled 
by  men  drawn  from  the  circle  of  the  Governor's  Council. 
It  is  not  going  too  far  to  say  that  the  members  of  the 
Council  appropriated  to  themselves  all  those  higher 
offices  of  the  Colony  which  were  attended  with  the 
largest  salaries,  or  presented  the  most  numerous 
chances  for  money-getting.      They  deliberately  dis- 


The  Council :  Its  Membership        361 

regarded  the  fact  that  the  concentration  of  these  offices 
in  so  few  hands  brought  about  serious  damage  to  the 
public  interests  whenever  the  Councillor  was  required 
by  his  incumbency  of  two  separate  positions  to  perform 
two  sets  of  duties  really  in  conflict  with  each  other; 
a  Councillor,  for  instance,  was  called  upon  to  pass  upon 
the  correctness  of  his  own  accounts  as  collector;  as 
collector,  he  was  obliged,  for  his  own  enlightenment  as 
a  judge  of  the  General  Court,  to  inform  himself  of  all 
violations  of  the  Navigation  Acts;  as  farmer  of  the 
quitrents,  he  practically  owed  the  success  of  his  bid  to 
himself  as  Councillor;  as  escheator,  who  was  a  minis- 
terial officer,  he  took  and  returned  the  inquisitions  of 
escheats  to  himself  as  a  judicial  officer,  and  as  such, 
passed  upon  points  of  law  coming  up  in  his  own 
inquisitions.1 

It  is  no  cause  for  surprise  that  such  a  concentration  , 

of  offices,  necessarily  so  discouraging  to  a  thoroughly 
conscientious  discharge  of  public  duties,  should,  in  the 
long  run,  have  resulted  in  many  serious  abuses.  In  his 
"  Declaration  of  the  People,"  one  of  the  noblest  of  all 
American  public  papers,  which  deserves  to  have  a  far 
greater  reputation  than  it  enjoys,  Bacon  singled  the 
Councillors  out  as  "  wicked  and  pernitious  aiders  and 
assisters  against  the  commonalty"2;  and  he  denounced 
them  as  "  sponges  to  suck  up  the  public  treasury,"  as 
a  "  powerful  cabal "  full  of  wiles  for  their  own  enrich- 
ment, and  as  traitors  to  the  people  in  their  greedy 
determination  to  appropriate  to  themselves  all  the 
official  fat  of  the  unhappy  Colony.s  Two  decades 
later,  the  younger  Benjamin  Harrison  reflected  upon 

1  Present  State  of  Virginia,  1697-8,  Section  on  Councillors. 
a  British  Colonial  Papers,  vol.  xxxvii.,  Doct.  41. 
3  Ibid.,  Docts.  41,  51. 


362  Political  Condition 

members  of  the  Council  in  almost  the  same  terms: — 
"The  course  of  affairs,"  he  wrote  to  the  Council  of 
Trade  in  July,  1698,  "has  been  so  long  in  the  same 
channel  that  it  now  looks  like  justice  it  should  continue 
so;  and  it  is  almost  become  criminal  to  argue  against  it, 
for  whilst  ill  men  find  their  advantages  by  such  con- 
stitutions and  the  illegal  and  abusive  practices  thereof, 
those  who  would  endeavor  to  make  any  reformation 
shall  never  fail  to  be  branded  as  persons  of  turbulent 
spirits,  stubborn  and  disloyal  hearts,  treacherous  and 
wicked  inclinations,  and  not  only  so,  shall  meet  with  all 
opposition  imaginable,  rage,  and  violence  of  those  who 
think  themselves  losers  by  the  alteration.' '  And  he 
concluded  by  asserting  that  the  "Councillors  would 
always  have  so  great  a  regard  to  their  own  interests 
that  they  would  not  fail  to  stand  by  each  other  in  op- 
position to  all  persons  whatsoever."1 

It  was  natural  enough  that  the  man  possessing  the 
right  to  fill  so  lucrative  a  position  temporarily  in  case 
of  a  sudden  vacancy,  and  whose  recommendation  was 
practically  conclusive  with  the  English  authorities 
when  the  permanent  appointment  was  to  be  made, 
should  have  exercised  a  paramount  influence  over  the 
members  of  his  Council.  They  were  not  only,  from  an 
official  point  of  view,  created  by  his  favor,  but  also, 
in  their  tenure,  entirely  dependent  upon  the  continua- 
tion of  his  good- will.  Henry  Hartwell,  in  replying  to 
the  queries  put  to  him,  in  1697,  by  the  Committee  of 
Trade  and  Plantations,  remarked  that  his  own  observa- 

1  Benjamin  Harrison,  Jr.,  to  Commissioners  of  Plantations, 
B.  T.  Va.,  Entry  Book,  vol.  xxxvii.,  pp.  235,  303.  Harrison  was, 
no  doubt,  very  much  embittered  against  the  Council.  He  had 
been  accused  of  going  off  to  Scotland  in  his  ship  without  first  ob- 
taining clearance  papers,  and  there  selling  the  vessel  under  a  false 
name. 


The  Council :  Its  Membership        363 

tion  had  shown  him  that  "  the  fact  that  the  Councillors 
held  their  places  by  the  Governor's  gift,  and  during 
his  pleasure,  restrained  them  from  the  due  freedom  of 
counsel  and  debate  " * ;  whilst  the  authors  of  the  mem- 
orable pamphlet  The  Present  State  of  Virginia,  i6gj-8, 
one  of  whom  was  Hartwell  himself,  declared  that  the 
same  officers  "  were  ready  instruments  to  advise  or 
execute,  not  only  what  the  Governor  expressly  desired, 
but  whatever  they  can  imagine  will  serve  and  please 
him."  It  followed,  so  the  same  writers  asseverated, 
that  the  whole  power  of  the  Council  was  as  thoroughly 
at  his  command  as  if  it  had  been  directly  invested  in 
him  by  the  King ;  and  that  he  was  as  free  to  give  such 
orders  as  he  saw  fit,  just  as  if  no  such  body  was  in  ex- 
istence. If,  however,  any  policy  adopted  by  him 
caused  displeasure  to  the  English  authorities,  he  was  al- 
ways at  liberty  to  shield  himself  from  the  consequences 
by  gravely  affirming  that  he  was  acting  under  the 
Board's  advice;  and  the  same  subterfuge  was  open  to 
him  in  case  he  had  incurred  the  odium  of  the  colonists 
by  his  course. 

There  is  reason  to  think  that  these  general  reflections 
upon  the  bearing  of  the  Council  towards  the  Governor 
were  not  devoid  of  truth,  although  some  allowance 
must  be  made  for  the  influence  of  envy  and  jealousy  on 
the  minds  of  the  witnesses,  however  reputable.  The 
members  of  that  body  were  human  after  all,  and  it  was 
a  peculiarly  sordid  and  grasping  age.  In  a  Colony 
resembling  Virginia  during  the  Seventeenth  century, 
where  the  chief  thoughts  and  energies  of  the  people 
were  directed  towards  the  conquest  of  nature  and  the 
improvement  of  their  condition  amid  their  primeval 

1  B.  T.  Va.,  1697,  v°l-  vi-»  P-  *43- 


364  Political  Condition 

surroundings,  it  was  to  be  expected  that  the  accumu- 
lation of  property  would  have  appeared  the  most 
important  of  all  tasks,  as  it  was  doubtless  the  most 
interesting  in  which  the  citizen  could  engage.  The 
Councillor's  position  offered,  as  we  have  already  seen, 
exceptional  opportunities  for  an  increase  of  income. 
That  the  first  men  in  the  Colony  should  have  been  eager 
to  secure  it  for  that  reason,  and  that  having  once 
obtained  it,  they  should  have  displayed  some  sub- 
serviency in  order  to  keep  it,  were  facts  that  might 
have  been  easily  predicted  and  which  we  hardly  require 
any  contemporary  testimony  to  assure  us  of.  Neverthe- 
less, there  is  no  proof  that,  as  a  body,  the  Councillors 
were  on  all  occasions  prepared  to  sacrifice  their  sense 
of  public  duty  and  their  convictions  as  to  what  was 
right  in  itself  for  the  mere  purpose  of  standing  in  well 
with  a  Governor  bent  upon  defying  public  sentiment 
and  overriding  justice  in  the  pursuit  of  his  own  objects. 
We  have  already  seen  how  firm  was  the  opposition 
which  the  whole  Board  raised  to  Harvey's  selfish  and 
unlawful  conduct.  Whilst  the  greater  number  of  the 
Council  supported  Berkeley  in  those  measures  which 
were  among  the  chief  causes  of  the  Insurrection  of  1676, 
nevertheless  one  probable  member  of  that  body,  the 
elder  William  Byrd,  exhibited  so  much  sympathy  with 
Bacon's  proposed  reforms  that  he  was  subsequently  de- 
nounced as  a  "  notorious  offender  "  by  the  more  politic 
of  his  associates.1  The  Commissioners  who  undertook 
to  settle  the  affairs  of  Virginia  after  the  collapse  of  the 
Rebellion  had,  on  more  than  one  occasion,  reason  to 

1  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1676-81,  p.  265.  Byrd  arrived  in  Vir- 
ginia in  1674  when  only  twenty-two  years  of  age.  If  a  member 
of  the  Council  at  this  early  age,  it  was  through  the  influence  of 
family  connections  in  the  Colony. 


The  Council :  Its  Membership       365 

describe  some  members  of  the  Council  as  "  rash  and 
fiery."1  Nor  was  it  a  certain  sign  of  a  supple  spirit 
that  so  many  of  the  same  body  retained  the  office  for  so 
great  a  length  of  time.  Prolonged  experience  only 
made  them  more  indispensable  to  successive  Governors 
in  administering  the  Colony's  affairs,  and  their  presence 
at  the  board  assured  for  these  Governors  a  higher  degree 
of  'the  public  confidence.  Of  the  members  of  the 
Council  sitting  in  1697,  Ralph  Wormeley  and  Richard 
Lee  had  occupied  the  position  during  twenty-one  years, 
William  Byrd  during  fifteen,  Christopher  Wormeley 
during  thirteen,  and  Edward  Hill  during  eight.2  At 
least  one  of  these  distinguished  citizens  had  shown  that 
he  did  not  value  the  large  income  resulting  from  his 
tenure  so  much  that  he  was  ready,  in  order  to  keep  it, 
to  trample  upon  the  dictates  of  his  conscience  without 
scruple.  When  Parliament,  after  the  Revolution  of 
1688,  substituted  a  new  oath  for  the  former  oaths  of 
allegiance  and  supremacy,  and  required  all  persons 
holding  office  to  subscribe  to  it,  Richard  Lee,  as  a 
member  of  the  Council  of  Virginia,  declined  to  take  it, 
on  the  ground  that  he  could  not  do  so  without  violating 
his  principles.  Nor  was  he  the  only  one  to  assume  this 
attitude  so  injurious  to  his  pecuniary  interest;  both 
Isaac  Allerton  and  John  Armistead  exhibited  a  like 
spirit  of  independence  and  superiority  to  personal  gain 
on  the  same  occasion.3 

Who  was  eligible  to  become  a  Councillor?  In  the 
Act  of  Parliament  adopted  to  prevent  frauds  in  the 
Plantation  Trade,  it  was  declared  that  only  M  native- 
born   subjects   of    England  and  Ireland"   would    be 

1  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1676-81,  p.  210. 

2  B.  T.  Va.,  vol.  vi.,  p.  143. 

*  Orders  of  Council,  April  21,  1691,  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1680-95. 


/    3 66    *  Political  Condition 

permitted  to  hold  places  of  trust  in  courts  of  law.  As 
every  member  of  the  Council  in  Virginia  was  also,  by 
reason  of  his  office,  a  member  of  the  General  Court,  the 
question  arose  when  Commissary  Blair  was  nominated 
to  the  Council  whether  all  natives  of  Scotland  were  not 
incapable  of  being  advanced  to  a  seat  at  that  board. 
The  question  was  finally  referred  to  the  English  At- 
torney-General, who  gave  the  opinion  that  Blair  was 
eligible  because  he  was  constructively  a  "  native-born 
subject  of  England"1;  and  he  was,  in  consequence, 
sworn  in.  An  Act  of  Assembly,  passed  in  1677,  pro- 
vided that  no  one  should  be  appointed  to  any  office  in 
the  Colony  who  had  not  resided  there  at  least  three 
years;  but  it  was  expressly  affirmed  that  this  law  did 
not  apply  to  a  person  who  had  received  his  commission 
from  the  King.2 

The  number  of  members  belonging  to  the  Council 
of  1607  was  limited  to  seven,3  but  the  smallest  num- 
ber constituting  that  body  at  any  later  period  never 
seems  to  have  fallen  below  nine.  The  authors 
of  the  Present  State  of  Virginia,  16QJ-8  asserted 
that,  towards  the  last  decade  of  the  century,  the 
Governors  deliberately  adopted  the  policy  of  restrict- 
ing the  membership  to  this  figure  as  offering  the 
greater  assurance  that  they  would  be  surrounded  at 
the  board  by  a  subservient  circle  of  advisers. 4  As 
long  as  there  were  only  nine,  they  could  be  rewarded 
without  difficulty,  as  there  were  just  about  that  number 
of  very  lucrative  offices  to  be  distributed  among  them. 

1  B.  T.  Va.,  vol.  vi.,  p.  297. 

2  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1676-81,  p.  161. 

a  Works  of  Captain  John  Smith,  vol.  i.,  p.  151,  Richmond  edition. 
4  See  also  Minutes  of  Council,  April  21,  1691,  B.  T.  Va.,  1691, 
No.  27. 


The  Council :  Its  Membership        367 

Had  anyone  been  left  out  in  the  division,  his  loyalty 
to  the  Governor  could  not  have  been  counted  on  with 
certainty,  nor  even  his  willingness  to  hold  the  position 
long,  as  its  tenure  entailed  considerable  expense.  It 
was,  however,  found  even  by  the  Council  itself  that  the 
restriction  of  their  number  to  nine  gave  rise  to  serious 
inconvenience,  and,  in  169 1-2,  that  body  took  the  in- 
itiative in  petitioning  the  King  to  add  to  their  member- 
ship. The  reason  for  their  making  this  request  lay  in 
the  fact  that,  from  time  to  time,  the  attendance  at  their 
meetings  was  much  curtailed  by  the  sickness  of  in- 
dividual Councillors,  or  by  their  inability  to  be  present 
owing  to  the  accumulation  of  ice  in  the  streams  in 
winter,  and  the  prevalence  of  high  winds  on  the  broader 
reaches  of  water  in  both  winter  and  summer.1  No 
doubt,  in  consequence  of  such  representations,  the 
membership  had,  by  1700,  been  increased  to  seventeen, 
after  a  preliminary  enlargement  to  twelve.2 

»  Orders  of  Council,  Jan'y  28,  169 1-2,  Colonial  Entry  Book, 
1680-95. 

2  B.  T.  Va.,  1700,  vol.  viii.,  Doct.  29;  B.  T.  Va.,  1699,  v°l-  vii., 
p.  114. 


CHAPTER  XIV 
The  Council:  How  Appointed 

THE  members  of  the  first  Council  assembling  in  the 
Colony  were  nominated  either  by  the  King  or 
by  the  Council  of  Thirteen  resident  in  England, 
who,  under  the  provisions  of  the  charter  of  1606,  were 
entrusted  with  the  principal  supervision  of  affairs  in 
Virginia.  When  the  first  expedition  was  about  to  set 
sail  from  London,  the  names  of  the  members  of  the 
Council  to  be  established  oversea  were  inserted  in  a  box, 
with  orders  that  it  was  not  to  be  unlocked  until  the  ships 
had  reached  their  destination.1  So  soon  as  a  landing 
had  been  made  at  Cape  Henry,  the  box  was  opened,  and 
it  was  found  that  Bartholomew  Gosnold,  Edward 
Maria  Wingfield,  Christopher  Newport,  John  Smith, 
John  Ratcliffe,  John  Martin,  and  George  Kendall  had 
been  designated  as  the  first  Councillors,  but  they  did 
not  take  the  oath  of  office  until  they  had  disem- 
barked  at   the  future  Jamestown.2 

When  the  ordinances  and  constitutions  of  161 9  and 
1620  were  framed,  it  was  provided  therein  that  the 
members  of  the  Council  resident  in  Virginia  should  be 
chosen  at  the  meeting  of  the  quarter  court  held  in 

1  Works  of  Captain  John  Smith,  vol.  i.,  p.  150,  Richmond  edition. 

2  See  ibid.,  p.  151,  Richmond  edition. 

368 


The  Council :  How  Appointed        369 

London;  and  this  was  to  be  done  by  an  erection  of  hands 
unless,  on  any  occasion,  it  was  considered  more  advis- 
able that  a  ballot  should  be  taken.1  A  different  rule 
seems  to  have  prevailed  immediately  after  the  charter 
of  1609  was  granted.  By  the  terms  of  his  commission, 
De  la  Warr  was  authorized  to  nominate  as  members  of 
the  Council  such  and  so  many  persons,  selected  from 
amongst  the  inhabitants  of  Virginia,  as  he  should  decide 
to  be  best.  After  the  revocation  of  the  letters-patent 
in  1624,  the  power  of  appointment  reverted  to  the  J 
Crown.  Practically,  this  was  purely  nominal  and  / 
theoretical,  for,  in  reality,  from  the  beginning  of  the 
period,  the  choice  was  made  by  the  Governor,  subject 
to  the  approval  of  the  King  or  his  representatives, 
namely,  the  Privy  Council,  and  the  Council  for  Trade 
and  Plantations. 

From  an  early  period,  as  indispensable  to  the  ad- 
ministration of  the  Colony's  affairs,  the  Governor  was 
instructed  to  fill  any  vacancy  which  might  occur  in  the 
membership  of  the  Board.  Not  long  after  his  arrival 
at  Jamestown,  Gosnold,  one  of  the  original  Councillors, 
died,  and  Kendall,  a  few  months  later,  was  executed 
for  treasonable  plotting.  To  one  of  the  vacancies  thus 
caused,  Scrivener  was  admitted  by  direct  appointment 
of  the  President,  who,  however,  was  acting  with  the 
consent  and  approval  of  the  existing  members.  Gover- 
nor Yeardley  was,  in  1626,  expressly  impowered  to  fill 
all  vacancies  which  might  arise.2  When  Harvey  came 
over  in  1629,  he  found  only  two  Councillors  surviving, 

1  Ordinances  and  Constitutions,  1619,  1620,  p.  19;  Force's  Hist. 
Tracts,  vol.  iii. 

2  Instructions  to  Yeardley,  1626,  Robinson  Transcripts,  p. 
47;  Works  of  Captain  John  Smith,  vol.  i.,  p.  166,  Richmond 
edition. 

vol.  11 — 24 


370  Political  Condition 

and  he  proceeded  to  swear  in  six  more  at  once.1  By 
the  terms  of  the  commission  granted  to  him  in  1636,  he 
was  required  to  report  to  the  English  Government 
every  case  of  death,  resignation,  or  removal  among  the 
members  of  the  Board2 ;  and  so  small  was  the  circle  at 
this  time,  that  only  a  prompt  appointment  in  any  one 
of  these  events  prevented  serious  embarrassment  to  the 
public  interests.  The  English  authorities  must  now 
have  conceded  the  right  of  temporary  appointment  as 
a  political  necessity,  but  at  the  same  time,  they  re- 
newed their  order  that  the  final  appointment  should 
come  from  England,  though  the  name  might  be  sug- 
gested, as  it  was  as  a  matter  of  fact,  by  the  Governor 
himself.3  It  was  in  this  manner  that  Robert  Evelyn, 
Christopher  Wormeley,  Richard  Townsend,  and  John 
Sibsey  were,  about  the  same  date,  advanced  to  this 
office.4 

During  the  period  of  the  Commonwealth,  all  vacancies 
occurring  in  the  Council  were  filled  by  the  Assembly's 
appointment;  and  in  exercising  this  right,  that  body 
was  simply  conforming  to  the  terms  of  the  agreement 
between  Parliament  and  itself  concluded  at  the  time 
of  the  Surrender.5  In  1656,  Colonel  Walker  and  the 
elder  Nathaniel  Bacon  were  chosen  by  the  Governor  and 
Council  to  unoccupied  seats  at  the  board,  but  with  the 

1  British  Colonial  Papers,  vol.  v.,  No.  95  II. 

2  Patent  Roll,  12  Charles  I.,  Patent  20,  No.  1. 
»  Hazard,  vol.  i.,  pp.  400-3. 

*  British  Colonial  Papers,  vol.  ix.,  1636-8,  No.  37.  See  Commis- 
sion and  Instructions  of  Wyatt,  1637-38-39,  Domestic,  Charles  I., 
Docquet,  Jan'y  8,  1637-8;  also  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1606-62, 
p.  216. 

5  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  i.,  p.  431.  The  exact  words  were:  "The 
election  to  be  until  the  next  Assembly  or  until  further  pleasure  of 
supreme  power  in  England  shall  be  known";  see  also  Hening's 
Statutes,  vol.  i.,  p.  358. 


The  Council :  How  Appointed        371 

express  reservation  that  their  tenure  was  only  to  last 
until  the  General  Assembly  should  hold  its  next  meet- 
ing. It  would  seem  that  even  this  action  was  unusual, 
as  the  pressure  of  "  emergent  necessitie  "  was  formally 
offered  as  its  justification.  This  reason  was  carefully 
weighed  by  the  House  when  it  convened,  and  as  it 
appeared  to  be  well  grounded,  was  accepted,  and  the 
temporary  appointments  were  confirmed.1 

One  of  the  earliest  acts  of  the  English  Government 
after  the  Restoration  of  the  Stuarts  was  to  issue  an 
order  to  the  Attorney-General  to  draw  up  a  bill  for  the 
royal  signature  for  Berkeley's  reinstatement  in  his  old 
position,  with  the  right  to  fill  all  vacancies  in  his  Council 
subject  to  the  approval  of  the  King.  The  same  right 
was  subsequently  granted  to  both  Culpeper  and 
Howard.2  When,  in  169 1,  Richard  Lee,  Isaac  Allerton, 
and  John  Armistead  resigned  from  the  Board,  because 
unwilling  to  take  the  oath  recently  prescribed  by  Parlia- 
ment, the  Governor  then  in  office  proceeded  to  appoint 
their  successors  at  once,  although  there  were  still  eight 
Councillors  remaining;  but,  at  this  time,  it  was  con- 
sidered detrimental  to  the  public  welfare  for  their 
number  to  fall  below  eleven  or  twelve.3  The  power  to 
fill  all  vacancies  in  the  Council  was  also  bestowed  on 
Nicholson  when  he  received  his  commission  as  Governor 
at  the  close  of  the  century;  but  he,  like  all  his  prede- 
cessors, had  to  report  his  nominations  to  the  Privy 
Council  or  the  Board  of  Trade  for  the  royal  appro val.+ 

1  Acts  of  1656,  Randolph  MS.,  vol.  iii.,  p.  267. 

2  See  Warrant  1660,  British  Colonial  Papers,  vol.  xiv. ;  Colonial 
Entry  Book,  vol.  1681-85,  p.  14;  vol.  1685-90,  p.  4. 

3  It  would  seem  that  the  Board  had  to  be  composed  of  at  least 
nine  members;  see  B.  T.  Va.,  1691,  No.  27;  Beverley's  History  of 
Virginia,  p.  189. 

*  B.  T.  Va.,  1699,  vol.  vii.,  p.  114. 


372  Political  Condition 

What  power  to  suspend  or  remove  a  Councillor  was 
possessed  by  the  Governor?  When  Berkeley  was  first 
appointed,  he  was  instructed  to  summon  to  the  next 
session  of  the  Council  any  member  guilty  of  a  breach 
of  morality  or  a  violation  of  the  law.  Not  less  than  six 
of  the  whole  number  of  Councillors  were  required  to  be 
present  at  such  a  meeting  to  deliberate  upon  all  the 
details  of  the  accusation;  and  a  judgment  was  to  be 
valid  only  if  it  were  approved  by  a  majority  of  voices. 
Should  the  Councillor  on  trial  fail  to  be  acquitted,  he 
was  to  be  either  bailed  or  committed  to  prison,  in  either 
of  which  events,  he  lost  his  membership  permanently  or 
temporarily,  according  to  the  seriousness  of  his  offence.1 
It  was  under  such  circumstances  that  Captain  Henry 
Browne  was  suspended;  and  in  a  case  of  this  kind,  the 
Council  seems  to  have  sat  as  a  General  Court.2  It 
would  appear  that  this  regulation  remained  in  force 
until  after  the  collapse  of  the  Insurrection  of  1676; 
not  until  then  did  the  Governor  acquire  the  right  to 
remove  or  suspend  according  to  his  own  discretion;  the 
power  was  then  given  him  because  it  was  feared  by  the 
English  Government  lest  the  Council  should,  at  some 
future  time,  become  so  deeply  imbued  with  popular 
sympathies  that  it  would  not  declare  vacant  the  seat 
of  a  member  known  to  be  tainted  even  with  treason; 
but  as  a  check,  the  Governor  was  compelled  to  make 
a  full  report  to  the  English  authorities  of  all  the  reasons 
which  had  led  him  in  any  instance  to  suspend  or  remove 
a  member  of  that  body.3  Howard,  having  been  im- 
powered  by  the  terms  of  his  commission  to  displace  any 

1  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1606-62,  p.  222. 

2  Robinson  Transcripts,  p.   235. 

*  Beverley's  History  of  Virginia,  p.  187;  Nicholson's  Commission, 
B.  T.  Va.,  1699,  vol.  vii.,  p.  114. 


The  Council :  How  Appointed        373 

Councillor  whom  he  had  just  cause  to  look  upon  as 
hostile  to  the  royal  interests,  expelled  Philip  Ludwell 
from  the  Board  in  the  course  of  1687;  and  his  action 
when  explained  to  the  King  was  fully  approved.1 
Absence  from  Virginia,  without  leave  of  the  English 
Government,  for  a  period  of  two  years  was  considered 
to  be  a  sufficient  justification  for  declaring  a  Council- 
lor's seat  vacant.  The  instructions  given  to  Nicholson 
in  1699  confirmed  this  regulation,  but  it  would  appear 
that  a  member  was  entitled  to  remain  out  of  the  country 
without  loss  of  office  provided  that  he  had  first  secured 
the  Governor's  consent.2 

By  the  terms  of  Howard's  Instructions  in  1685,  a 
quorum  of  the  Council  could  consist  of  three  members, 
but  it  was  only  to  be  reduced  to  such  a  small  number 
in  case  of  an  extraordinary  emergency.  Under  the 
usual  circumstances,  the  Governor  was  required  to  be 
supported  by  a  quorum  of  at  least  five  members.  The 
like  instructions  were  given  to  Andros.3 

1  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1685-90,  p.  153. 

2  Ibid.,  1685-90,  p.  23;  B.  T.  Va.,  vol.  vii.,  p.  115. 

3  Ibid.,  1685-90,  p.  22;  B.  T.  Va.,  1691,  Entry  Book,  vol. 
xxxvi.,  p.  121. 


CHAPTER  XV 
The  Council:   Powers  and  Remuneration 

THE  Council  possessed  no  power  independently  of 
the  Governor  when  he  was  present  in  the  Colony, 
or  of  his  representative,  the  Lieutenant-Governor 
or  Deputy-Governor,  whenever  he  himself  was  absent. 
It  may  be  asserted  in  a  general  way  that  the  principal 
duty  of  this  body  consisted  in  advising  the  Governor  in 
the  matter  of  the  various  questions  coming  up  in  his 
administration  of  public  affairs;  and  they  were  entitled 
to  be  consulted,  by  him  in  every  branch  of  public 
business  presented  to  his  consideration.  A  warm  dis- 
pute arose  during  Harvey's  incumbency  as  to  whether 
the  validity  of  the  Governor's  acts  was  not  entirely 
dependent  upon  his  having  obtained  beforehand  the 
Board's  consent  and  approval.  It  is  difficult  to  say 
how  far  this  contention  was  correct  as  relating  to  the 
same  point  at  later  periods.  The  Councillors  perhaps 
took  so  extreme  a  position  in  Harvey's  time  under  the 
influence  of  the  instructions  which  Charles  I.  had  given 
to  the  Governor  and  Council  in  March,  1624-5:  "We 
grant  unto  you  and  the  greater  number  of  you  respect- 
ively full  power  and  authority  to  execute  and  perform 
the  places,  powers,  and  authorities  of  a  Governor  and 
Council  of  Virginia";  and  only  a  few  years  later,  the 
same  King  declared  that  "  all  his  loving  subjects  "  in 

374 


The  Council:  Powers  and  Remuneration  375 

Virginia  were  to  be  governed  by  the  same  body  as  a 
whole,  or  by  the  greater  number  of  its  members,  u  in 
all  things."  *  It  seems  clear  from  the  royal  words  that, 
during  the  earlier  part  of  the  Seventeenth  century, 
the  Governor  could  not  act  regardless  of  the  advice 
or  approval  of  his  Council;  and  it  is  probable  that 
this  was  his  legal  position  throughout  the  century, 
subject,  however,  with  equal  probability  to  the  im- 
portant modification  that  a  mere  majority  of  voices 
was  not  conclusive  unless  he  voted  in  harmony  with 
them;  and  that,  on  the  other  hand,  his  joining  in  the 
minority  of  voices  did  not  make  that  minority  override 
the  majority.2 

Apart  from  their  right  to  advise  and  approve  or 
disapprove  of  all  the  steps  or  measures  proposed  by  the 
Governor,  the  only  power  independently  of  the  judicial 
and  legislative  functions3  which  the  Council  possessed 
was  one  expressly  delegated  to  its  members  in  con- 
junction with  the  Governor  by  Act  of  Assembly.  Such 
a  power  was  the  power  to  impose  taxes  within  certain 
limits  enjoyed  by  the  Governor  and  Council  at  one  time, 
although  only  for  a  very  short  period.  They  were,  in 
1 63 1,  pointedly  forbidden  to  exercise  such  a  power  by 
their  own  authority,  on  the  ground  that  it  belonged  to 
the  House  of  Burgesses  alone4;  but  at  a  later  date,  the 
right  to  lay  a  public  levy  not  to  exceed  thirty  pounds  of 
tobacco  a  tithable  was  granted  to  them  as  a  means  of 

•  Robinson  Transcripts,  pp.  42-3;  Randolph  MS.,  vol.  iii.,  p.  209. 

2  For  powers  of  Council  see  Beverley's  History  of  Virginia,  and 
Present  State  of  Virginia,  i6gy-8,  by  Hartwell,  Chilton,  and  Blair. 

3  The  functions  of  the  Councillors  as  members  ex  officio  of  the 
General  Court  have  already  been  detailed.  Their  functions  as 
members  ex  officio  of  the  Upper  House  of  the  General  Assembly 
will  be  described  in  a  later  section. 

*  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  i.,  p.  171. 


376  Political  Condition 

avoiding  the  expense  of  a  special  session  of  the  Assem- 
bly, as  such  a  session  not  infrequently  made  necessary 
an  outlay  equal  to  the  whole  cost  of  administering  the 
Colony's  affairs  for  the  space  of  twelve  months.1  The 
exercise  of  this  right  by  any  public  body  besides  them- 
selves soon  occasioned  the  House  so  much  jealousy  and 
suspicion,  that,  in  a  very  short  time,  they  withdrew  it 
from  the  Governor  and  Council;  who,  in  consequence, 
were  led  to  petition  the  Committee  of  Trade  and 
Plantations  to  restore  it  to  them  regardless  of  the  dis- 
approving attitude  of  the  Assembly.  They  declared 
that  they  would  be  content  to  restrict  their  levy  to 
twenty  pounds  of  tobacco  a  tithable;  and  they  also 
promised  to  account  to  the  next  House  as  to  the  manner 
in  which  the  whole  sum  thus  raised  had  been  expended. 
They  concluded  by  pointing  out  that  the  justices  of  the 
county  courts  had  long  enjoyed  this  right  in  assessing 
the  county  taxes.2  This  appeal  to  the  English  au- 
thorities seems  to  have  been  unsuccessful ;  and  its  only 
practical  result  apparently  was  to  make  the  House  of 
Burgesses  more  reluctant  than  ever  to  delegate  so 
dangerous  a  power.  In  the  course  of  1686-7,  that 
body  firmly  refused  to  allow  the  Governor  and  Council 
to  lay  a  public  levy  of  twenty  pounds  of  tobacco  a 
tithable.3 

By  an  order  of  the  Long  Assembly,  adopted  in  1673, 
the  Governor  was  authorized  to  distribute  among  the 
members  of  the  Council  the  sum  of  fifty  pounds  sterling, 
which  had  been  collected  as  a  part  of  the  fund  derived 
from  the  tax  of  two  shillings  imposed  on  every  hogs- 
head of  tobacco  exported  from  the  Colony.     This  seems 

1  British  Colonial  Papers,  vol.  1.,  No.  60. 

2  Colonial  Entry  Book,  168 1-5,  p.  186. 

3  British  Colonial  Papers,  vol.  lix.,  No.  58. 


The  Council:  Powers  and  Remuneration  377 

to  have  been  designed  as  some  return  for  their  services 
as  members  of  the  Upper  House  and  of  the  General 
Court,  as  well  as  of  the  Council.1  Even  the  Assembly 
of  1676,  which,  under  the  influence  of  Bacon  and  his 
principal  followers,  reformed  so  many  serious  abuses, 
approved  of  this  measure;  that  thoughtful  and  de- 
termined body  of  men  went  even  further  in  the  reward 
they  allowed  for  these  services,  for,  instead  of  fifty 
pounds  sterling,  they  directed  that  one  hundred  pounds 
should  be  disbursed  among  the  Councillors  in  proportion 
to  their  attendance;  and  in  the  course  of  the  following 
year,  two  hundred  and  fifty  pounds  sterling  were,  by 
order  of  the  General  Assembly  then  sitting,  added  to 
this  sum.2  In  a  letter  written  by  William  Fitzhugh  in 
1687,  he  declared  that  each  of  the  Councillors  received 
in  the  form  of  salary  between  thirty  and  forty  pounds 
sterling  per  annum  payable  by  means  of  the  export  tax 
on  tobacco.3  In  the  next  decade,  three  hundred  and 
fifty  pounds  sterling  were  annually  disbursed  for  their 
benefit,  which  ensured  for  each  the  same  amount  still.4 
We  learn  from  Beverley  that  the  distribution  at  the 
end  of  the  century  continued  to  be  entirely  in  propor- 
tion to  attendance,5  for  the  theory  was  then,  as  it  was 
twenty-five  years  earlier,  that  the  payment  was  de- 

1  Acts  of  Assembly,  1673,  Colonial  Entry  Book,  vol.  lxxxvi. 

2  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  ii.,  pp.  359,  392.  The  Assembly  in 
1676-7  directed  the  payment  to  the  Councillors  of  £100  "over  and 
above  the  £250  paid  them."  As  will  be  seen  in  a  later  paragraph, 
there  was  a  special  reason  for  the  Assembly's  action,  namely,  its 
determination  to  deprive  the  Councillors  of  certain  valuable  ex- 
emptions, for  which  this  increase  of  salary  was  supposed  to  be 
some  compensation. 

a  Letters  of  William  Fitzhugh,  April  5,  1687. 
*  Minutes  of  Council,  June  15,  1696;  April  26,  1698,  B.  T.  Va., 
vol.  liii. 

5  Beverley's  History  of  Virginia,  p.  189. 


378  Political  Condition 

signed  simply  to  cover  the  Councillors'  actual  expenses 
during  the  performance  of  their  duties  as  members  of 
the  Council,  of  the  General  Court,  and  of  the  Upper 
House. 

If  the  Councillors  had  been  compelled  to  rely  upon 
their  fixed  salaries  as  their  only  remuneration  for  their 
services  in  these  different  capacities,  they  would  have 
been  but  poorly  rewarded  for  the  trouble,  expense,  and 
loss  of  time  which  these  combined  offices  made  neces- 
sary. Their  chief  income  was  really  derived  from  their 
percentage  of  the  funds  accumulating  in  their  hands 
as  the  collectors  of  customs  in  their  several  districts. 
This  income  was  so  large  that  they  were  willing  enough, 
in  return  for  its  acquisition,  to  perform  almost  gratui- 
tously all  the  duties  imposed  upon  them  as  members 
of  the  Council,  of  the  General  Court,  and  of  the  Upper 
House  of  the  Assembly.1  It  was  to  be  expected  that, 
when,  in  1698-9,  the  Governor  of  the  Colony  was  in- 
structed from  England  to  forbid  any  Councillor  to 
occupy  the  position  of  collector  or  naval  officer,  there 
would  be  an  earnest  protest  from  every  member  of  the 
body.  In  a  petition  bearing  upon  the  subject ,  presented 
by  Richard  Lee,  Edward  Hill,  Edmund  Jennings,  and 
Charles  Scarborough,  every  one  of  whom  had,  at  one 
time,  combined  in  his  own  person  the  offices  of  collector, 
naval  officer,  and  receiver,  it  was  urged  that  all  these 
offices  ought  to  be  held  by  Councillors  in  order  that  they 
might  obtain  some  compensation  for  "  their  care  and 
trouble,  and  their  great  expense  of  time  and  money, 
loss  and  damage  in  their  estates  and  hazards  they 
undergo  to  serve  the  king  " ;  and  they  declared  further 

1  See  Letter  of  Nicholson  to  Committee  of  Plantations,  July, 
699,  B.  T.  Va.,  1699,  vol.  vii. 


The  Council:  Powers  and  Remuneration  379 

that,  without  the  income  from  these  offices,  the  Council- 
lors would  not  have  sufficient  means,  unless  they  drew 
it  from  their  private  estates,  •■  to  bear  the  expenses  of 
their  journeys  to  and  from  town,  these  being  distant 
some  one  hundred  miles,  some  seventy,  none  less  than 
twelve,  with  rivers  to  cross."1 

The  statements  made  in  this  petition  were  far  from 
being  devoid  of  reasonableness.  The  members  of  the 
Council  as  judges  of  the  General  Court,  as  members  of 
the  Upper  House,  and  also  as  Councillors,  undertook 
duties  of  extraordinary  weight  and  delicacy,  which 
exacted  a  great  expenditure  of  time  and  thought  for 
their  proper  discharge,  and  which  could  only  be  per- 
formed at  all  by  a  periodical  attendance  at  Jamestown, 
a  step  requiring  a  Very  considerable  outlay  to  meet 
the  costs  of  board  and  lodging  during  their  stay  there. 
Had  the  English  Government  persevered  in  its  deter- 
mination to  deprive  the  members  of  the  Council  of  the 
collectorships,  the  office  of  Councillor  would  have  soon 
fallen  into  less  responsible  and  less  distinguished  hands; 
and  from  having  been  the  most  eagerly  desired  position 
in  the  Colony,  would  have  soon  become  one  compara- 
tively little  sought  after  simply  because  it  imposed  a 
burden  of  personal  expense  which  few,  however  rich, 
would  have  been  willing  to  bear. 

The  direct  remuneration  allowed  members  of  the 
Council  was  not  limited  to  the  particular  sum  of  thirty 
or  forty  pounds  a  year  granted  to  recoup  them  for  their 
actual  expenses  in  the  performance  of  their  different 
duties;  they  were,  in   addition,  permitted  to    enjoy 

»  B.  T.  Va.,  vol.  vii.,  p.  150.  Nicholson  writing  in  1690  said: 
"Col.  Lee  and  Col.  AllerJ;on  live  nigh  100  miles  off.  Col.  Custis  on 
ye  Eastern  Shore  is  often  hindered  by  wind  and  weather.  The  rest 
live  nigh  40  miles  off";  B.  T.  Va.,  1690,  No.  6. 


380  Political  Condition 

certain  exemptions  from  taxation  amounting  to  a 
very  substantial  advantage  from  a  pecuniary  point  of 
view.  As  early  as  January,  1639-40,  the  General 
Assembly,  in  conformity  with  instructions  given  to 
Gov.  Wyatt,  relieved  every  Councillor  of  the  burden 
of  public  charges  touching  himself  and  ten  of  his  ser- 
vants.1 The  instructions  to  Berkeley,  a  few  years 
later,  authorized  the  bestowal  of  the  like  extraordinary 
privilege,  on  the  ground  that  the  members  of  the  Council 
were  compelled  to  devote  the  greater  part  of  their  time 
to  the  public  service  to  the  neglect  of  their  private 
affairs ;  but  the  exemption  was  to  be  suspended  during 
the  progress  of  a  defensive  war,  or  during  the  time  the 
building  of  a  town  was  under  way ;  nor  was  it,  under  any 
circumstances,  to  apply  to  the  regular  dues  of  the 
Clburch  and  the  clergymen.2  That  the  order  for  the 
discontinuance  of  the  privilege  during  a  period 
when  hostilities  were  going  on  was  really  enforced 
is  shown  by  the  General  Assembly's  action  in 
1644-5  (a  Year  made  memorable  by  Indian  outrages 
all  along  the  frontiers),  in  requiring  each  Coun- 
cillor to  pay  the  usuai  tax  on  every  tithable  in 
his  employment  so  as  to  sweli  the  fund  for  meet- 
ing all  the  charges  im^o^  by  t^e  defensive  meas- 
ures then  taken.  In  other  wor(is,  he  was  compelled, 
like    the     great    body    ot     citizens,    to     contribute 

1  "Sir  Francis  Wyatt  brought  over  instrUctions  to  free  all  his 
Council  from  paying  all  public  chai^es  Captain  Willoughby  of 
this  county  coming  in  as  one  of  the  CSuncil  then  with  Sir  Francis 
Wyatt,  and  having  ten  or  more  in  nu^^  in  his  familVj  the  levy 
being  60  lbs.  of  tobacco  per  poll  was  Exempted  for  all";  Lower 
Norfolk  County  Orders,  Jan'y  16,  1642;  see  also  Robinson  Tran. 
scripts,  p.  227;  Randolph  MS.,  vol.  iii.,  p   ^t. 

2  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1606-62,  p.  223.  Hening's  Statutes,  vol. 
i.,  p.  279. 


The  Council:  Powers  and  Remuneration  381 

in    proportion    to    the    number    of    persons   in    his 
service.1 

This  grant  to  the  Councillors  of  exemption  from  the 
heaviest  public  charges  must  have  appeared  even  to 
the  mass  of  the  colonists  to  be  neither  unreasonable 
nor  improper,  for  in  1657-8,  when  Virginia  was  governed 
practically  by  the  popular  voice  as  represented  in  the 
House  of  Burgesses,  we  find  it  renewed  in  almost 
precisely  the  same  language  as  had  been  used  during 
the  preceding  period.2  It  is  certain  that  the  House 
would  not  have  done  this  at  a  time  when  it  was  so 
responsive  to  popular  influence  had  it  not  really  felt 
that  the  Councillors  were  entitled  to  some  unusual 
form  of  remuneration;  and  that,  although  this  ex- 
emption from  all  public  dues,  except  those  for  the 
support  of  the  Church  and  its  ministers,  increased  the 
burden  of  taxation  already  borne  by  the  people  at  large, 
nevertheless  this  was  not  inequitable,  owing  to  the  very 
onerous,  responsible,  and  expensive  duties  performed 
by  these  officials;  and  that,  if  the  Colony  was  to  secure 
for  the  position  its  most  capable  and  trustworthy 
citizens,  then  some  special  reward  must  be  offered  them. 
It  is  quite  probable  that,  from  1624  down  to  1660,  the 
income  derived  by  members  of  the  Council  indirectly 
from  their  office  (that  is  to  say,  from  their  appointment 
to  the  collectorships,  escheatorships,  and  the  like)  was 
very  much  smaller  than  it  was  during  the  last  quarter  of 
the  century,  and  it  was,  therefore,  thought,  during  this 
interval  at  least,  by  all  classes  of  citizens  that  some 

»  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  i.,  p.  307.  The  second  great  massacre 
took  place  in  1644.  The  levy  for  1645  was  undoubtedly  in  part 
at  least  designed  to  cover  the  expenses  incurred  in  defence  during 
the  previous  year. 

2  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  i.,  p.  445. 


382  Political  Condition 

special  privilege  should  be  bestowed  on  them  as  a  re- 
turn for  the  loss  of  time  and  expenditure  of  money 
incurred  by  them  in  attending  to  the  public  business. 
In  1660,  when  the  system  formerly  prevailing  in  the 
Colony  was  again  in  operation,  the  Councillors  were 
each  allowed  by  Act  of  Assembly  a  sum  of  two  thousand 
pounds  of  tobacco;  but  this  law  was  soon  repealed; 
without,  however,  depriving  them  of  the  very  valuable 
exemption  from  public  charges  which  they  were  still 
enjoying.1  How  tenaciously  they  were  disposed  to 
cling  to  this  exemption  was  shown  in  1663  by  the 
persistence  of  several  of  them,  who  had  been  sojourning 
in  England  for  a  very  considerable  length  of  time,  in 
claiming  it.  This  conduct  seems  to  have  aroused  so 
much  indignation  in  the  General  Assembly  that  it 
adopted  an  order  that,  should  a  member  of  the  Council 
not  be  an  actual  resident  of  the  Colony,  or  should  he 
absent  himself  for  a  period  of  one  year  or  more,  he 
should,  like  any  other  citizen,  be  required  to  report  for 
taxation  the  full  number  of  tithables  in  his  service; 
and  the  specific  reason  given  by  the  General  Assembly 
for  the  passage  of  this  Act  was  that  the  exemption  from 
public  charges  had  only  been  allowed  in  consideration 
of  the  Councillor's  unremitting  performance  of  all  the 
duties  incident  to  his  position.2 

In  1676,  when  the  concentration  of  offices  in  the 
hands  of  the  members  of  the  Council  had  reached  its 

»  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  ii.,  p.  32. 

2  Acts  of  1663,  Colonial  Entry  Book,  vol.  lxxxvi.  "Whereas 
Thomas  Loving,  High  Sheriff  of  James  City  county,  by  petition 
requested  the  opinion  of  the  House  whether  Colonel  Higginson, 
having  been  so  long  absent  out  of  the  country,  should  enjoy  the 
privilege  of  Councillor  by  exempting  certain  persons  out  of  the 
levies,  Resolved  that,  in  respect  of  his  long  absence,  he  being  in 
no  public  employment,  shall  not  have  any  persons  exempted." 


The  Council:  Powers  and  Remuneration  383 

furthest  point,  the  General  Assembly,  which  met  in 
that  year  and  reformed  so  many  abuses,  expressly  took 
away  this  right  of  exemption,  but,  as  some  compensa- 
tion for  its  loss,  increased,  as  we  have  seen,  their 
collective  salary  from  a  total  of  fifty  to  a  total  of  one 
hundred  pounds  sterling.1  This  Act  was  repealed  so 
soon  as  Bacon's  influence  was  destroyed  by  his  death; 
but  it  is  significant  that  the  exemption  was  not  restored, 
a  course  followed,  no  doubt,  in  deference  to  public 
sentiment,  which  had  long  regarded  with  peculiar 
disfavor  the  numerous  privileges  the  Council  had 
managed  to  combine  in  their  own  possession.  In  order 
to  soften  in  some  degree  the  Councillors'  disappoint- 
ment, the  Assembly  added  two  hundred  and  fifty 
pounds  to  their  annual  collective  salary.2  Apparently, 
the  right  of  general  relief  from  public  taxation  was 
never  again  granted  to  them. 

The  Councillors  asserted  that,  during  their  incum- 
bency of  their  honorable  and  responsible  office,  they 
were  exempt  from  arrest  by  the  usual  process  of  law3 ; 
and  it  would  seem  that  this  claim  was  not  entirely 
groundless.  Hartwell,  in  his  testimony  before  the  Com- 
mittee of  Plantations,  in  1697,  declared  that  he  knew 
no  means  by  which  a  member  of  the  Council  could  be 
brought  into  a  county  court  to  answer  in  the  most  ordi- 
nary cause  instituted  against  him  there.  When  a  suit 
was  entered  against  him  in  the  General  Court,  a  letter 

1  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  ii.,  p.  359. 

2  Ibid.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  392.  The  whole  amount  paid  them  by  the 
authority  of  this  statute  was  £350.  It  is  inferred  that  £250 
was  added  by  this  Assembly,  as  the  amount  allowed  by  the  pre- 
vious Assembly  was,  as  we  have  seen,  only  one  hundred  pounds 
sterling. 

3  This  claim  was  put  forth  specifically  in  an  order  of  Council 
passed  in  1678;  see  B.  T.  Va.,  1699,  vol.  vii.,  p.  59. 


384  Political  Condition 

announcing  the  fact  was  addressed  by  the  Secretary  of 
State  to  the  sheriff  of  the  county  where  he  resided;  but 
should  the  Councillor  fail  to  appear,  then  the  suit  was 
dropped. x  In  contradiction  of  this  statement  made  by 
Hart  well,  the  Governor  declared  that,  in  all  those  cir- 
cumstances in  which  a  common  writ  was  used  in. the 
private  citizen's  case,  the  summons  was  used  in  the 
Councillor's,  and  in  obedience  to  it,  he  was  required  to 
attend  with  the  same  degree  of  promptness  as  if  the 
regular  writ  had  been  issued;  and  that  should  he 
omit  to  do  so,  a  judgment  by  default  was  entered 
against  him.  If  this  regulation  was  in  practice  merely 
nominal,  as  Hartwell  asserted,  it  was  not  from  any 
neglect  on  the  part  of  the  Governor  and  Council  in 
renewing  it  whenever  they  deemed  that  step  to  be 
necessary.  Such  a  renewal,  for  instance,  occurred 
in  March,  1 698.2  Nevertheless,  there  is  reason  to 
think  that  the  Councillors  sometimes  took  advantage 
of  one  excuse  or  another  to  evade  responding  to  even 
a  summons,  an  act  which  seems  to  confirm  the  gen- 
eral correctness  of  Hartwell' s  accusation.  So  serious 
had  this  indirect  defiance  of  the  law  become  that, 
when  instructions  were  drawn  up  for  Nicholson  in 
1698,  he  was  enjoined  to  deprive  the  Councillors  of 
the  option  (which  they  had  been  enjoying  without  any 
authority)  of  obeying  or  neglecting  the  summons  from 
the  Governor  or  the  Secretary  of  State  to  appear  in 
court  just  as  they  thought  their  interests  demanded. 

1  B.  T.  Va.,  1697,  vol.  vi.,  p.  146. 

2  B.  T.  Va.,  vol.  vi.,  p.  156.  An  order  of  the  General  Court 
adopted  March  27,  1698,  expressly  declared  that  a  summons  signed 
by  the  Governor  or  the  Secretary  of  State  should  be  in  law  as 
binding  on  the  Councillor  as  the  ordinary  writ;  B.  T.  Va.,  vol.  vi., 
p.  167.  If  signed  by  the  clerk  of  the  General  Court  alone,  it  was 
deemed  invalid. 


The  Council :  Powers  and  Remuneration  385 

It  was  only  during  a  meeting  of  the  General  Assembly 
that  they  were  now  allowed  to  disregard  this  writ 
should  one  be  then  issued;  which,  however,  was  not 
likely,  as  both  the  Governor  and  Secretary  of  State  were 
aware  of  the  regulation.  If  the  summons  was  received 
at  any  other  time,  and  not  at  once  obeyed,  then  the 
Councillor  was  liable,  like  the  citizens  in  general,  to  be 
brought  into  court  by  the  ordinary  process. 1 

The  object  of  requiring  the  members  of  the  Council 
to  submit  to  the  binding  force  of  the  summons,  but  not 
to  that  of  the  ordinary  writ,  unless  the  summons  had 
been  first  disobeyed,  was  that,  as  the  summons  had  to 
be  signed  by  the  Governor  or  Secretary  of  State,  some 
discretion  might  be  exercised  as  to  the  time  when  they 
should  appear  in  court.  Subjected  to  the  ordinary 
writ,  which  could  be  issued  at  any  hour  by  anyone 
wishing  to  institute  a  suit,  the  Councillors  could  not, 
from  day  to  day,  or  month  to  month,  know  whether 
they  would  not  be  compelled  to  leave  Jamestown  to 
defend  themselves  in  actions  before  county  justices. 
Such  a  call  might  come  at  a  moment  when  an  impor- 
tant cause  was  on  trial  in  the  General  Court,  or  the 
members  of  the  Council  were  taking  measures  for  the 
Colony's  protection,  under  either  of  which  circum- 
stances the  public  interests  would  inevitably  suffer. 
The  principle  involved  in  the  regulation  was  unques- 
tionably a  wise  one;  and  not  the  less  so  because  it 
was  occasionally  abused,  as  seems  to  have  been  the 
case  in  spite  of  the  Governor's  denial. 

It  was  considered  to  be  almost  as  much  of  a  crime  to 
slander  a  member  of  the  Council  as  to  defame  the 
Governor  himself.  By  the  provisions  of  Dale's  Martial 
Code,  the  punishment  for  the  first  offence  consisted  of 

1  B.  T.  Va.,  1699,  vol.  vii.,  p.  59. 
vol.  11 — 25 


386  Political  Condition 

three  successive  whippings;  for  the  second,  condemna- 
tion to  the  galleys  at  hard  labor  during  three  years; 
and  for  the  third,  a  sentence  of  death.1  In  1643, 
Thomas  Parks,  who  had  spoken  in  opprobrious  terms 
of  Argoll  Yeardley,  a  Councillor,  was  arrested  and 
imprisoned  until  he  gave  satisfactory  security  for  his 
appearance  at  the  next  meeting  of  the  General  Court.2 
Other  cases  occurring  at  later  periods  were  dealt  with 
with  equal  promptness  and  severity.  A  like  indication 
of  the  dignity  of  the  Councillor's  office  was  revealed  by 
the  regulation  prevailing  about  162 1  which  restricted 
the  right  to  wear  gold  in  their  clothes  to  members  of  the 
Council  and  heads  of  Hundreds.  No  such  distinctions, 
however,  seem  to  have  existed  after  the  recall  of  the 
letters-patent  of  the  London  Company.3 

1  Divine  and  Martial  Laws,  p.  11,  Force's  Hist.  Tracts,  vol.  iii. 

2  Northampton  County  Records,  Orders  Dec.  20,  1643. 

*  Instructions  to  Wyatt,  1621,  Randolph  MS.,  vol.  iii.,  p.  161. 


CHAPTER  XVI 
The  Council:  Officers  and  Place  of  Meeting 

THE  three  principal  officers  of  the  Council  were  the 
President,  the  Clerk,  and  the  Messenger.  The 
person  whose  name  was  first  mentioned  in 
the  list  of  Councillors  as  entered  in  their  general  com- 
mission or  in  the  Instructions  to  the  Governor,  served 
as  President  of  the  body. !  As  a  rule,  the  member  who 
had  sat  at  the  board  for  the  longest  period  enjoyed 
the  distinction  of  having  his  name  appear  at  the  head. 
The  clerkship  was  filled  by  some  of  the  foremost  men, 
whether  regarded  from  a  social  or  political  point  of 
view,  residing  in  the  Colony.2  'The  office  of  messenger 
carried  much  less  dignity,  but  as  the  salary  attached  to 
it  amounted  annually  to  twenty-five  pounds  sterling, 
and  its  duties  were  light  and  took  up  but  little  time,  for 
they  were  chiefly  those  of  an  ordinary  sergeant-at-arms, 
it  was  of  sufficient  importance  to  induce  citizens  of  pro- 
minence to  seek  to  be  appointed  to  it.  Whenever  a 
package  had  to  be  sent  some  distance,  and  expedition 
was  necessary,  extra  remuneration  was  bestowed  on 
the  messenger;  such  a  case  occurred  in  1698  when 
documents  from  the  English  Government,  received  at 
Jamestown,  but  really  designed  for  the  Governors  of 

1  Colonial  Entry  Book,   1680-95,  p.  311. 

2  Minutes  of  Council,  Dec.  12,  1698,  B.  T.  Va.,  vol.  liii. 

.      387 


388  Political  Condition 

Maryland  and  New  York,  had  to  be  forwarded  with 
unusual  despatch.  Colonel  Chiles  was  allowed  a  special 
reward  of  fifteen  pounds  sterling  for  performing  this 
service;  and  he  probably  also  obtained  an  additional 
sum  sufficient  to  reimburse  him  for  the  expenses  en- 
tailed by  the  journey.1  At  a  meeting  of  the  Council 
held  in  October,  1698,  warrants  for  as  large  an  amount 
as  ninety-three  pounds  sterling  were  issued  in  payment 
of  the  charges  resulting  from  sending  a  number  of 
messages  to  different  places.2 

During  the  Company's  existence,  the  Council  prob- 
ably met  in  the  Governor's  official  residence  at  James- 
town as  soon  as  that  structure  was  completed.  After 
the  Crown  resumed  the  administration  of  the  Colony's 
affairs,  the  Council  for  some  years  continued  to  meet 
in  the  Governor's  house,  whether  it  was  his  official  or 
his  private  home.  That  the  need  of  a  special  building 
in  which  the  Council  might  convene  grew  more  urgent 
as  time  passed,  is  shown  by  the  instruction  given  to 
Berkeley  when  he  first  became  Governor,  to  erect  such 
a  house  as  soon  as  it  was  practicable  to  do  so;  but  it 
would  appear  that  the  English  authorities  had  in 
mind  fitting  accommodations  for  the  Councillors  rather 
in  their  character  as  the  General  Court  than  in  their 
character  as  the  Council  of  State.3  There  is  no  evi- 
dence of  any  intention  to  provide  a  separate  chamber 
for  their  use  as  Councillors  alone. 

Not  every  session  of  the  Council  was  held  at  James- 
town.    During  Berkeley's  long  administration,  it  con- 

»  Minutes  of  Council,  April  26,  1698,  B.  T.  Va.,  vol.  liii.  In  many 
cases  of  this  kind  special  messengers  were  employed. 

2  Ibid.,  Oct.  28,  1698,  B.  T.  Va.,  vol.  liii. 

3  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1606-62,  p.  228.  The  order  was  "to 
build  a  house  where  the  Council  might  meet  for  the  dispatching 
of  public  affairs  and  hearing  of  causes." 


The  Council:  Officers — Place  of  Meeting  389 

vened  not  infrequently  in  his  residence  at  Green  Spring. l 
In  the  course  of  1683,  it  seems  to  have  met  sometimes 
at  Green  Spring,  sometimes  at  Jamestown,  and,  on  at 
least  one  occasion,  at  Nomini.  The  majority  of  its 
sessions,  during  1685,  were  held  in  the  large  hall  be- 
longing to  the  home  of  William  Sherwood  at  James- 
town; and  for  privacy  and  dignity  this  was  found  to 
be  the  most  satisfactory  place  yet  used  for  this  purpose. 
By  the  terms  of  an  agreement  which  that  distinguished 
lawyer  made  with  the  House  of  Burgesses,  he  bound 
himself  to  furnish  this  hall  in  the  most  comfortable 
manner,  and  to  supply  light,  heat,  and  attendance,  in 
return  for  twenty-five  pounds  sterling  payable  annually 
out  of  the  fund  accumulated  from  the  tax  on  liquors.2 
As  the  Governor  and  Council  had  consented  to  the  con- 
version of  the  porch  chamber  in  the  new  State- House 
into  an  office  for  the  clerk  of  the  Assembly  on  condition 
that  the  hall  in  Sherwood's  house  was  reserved  for  their 
own  use,  it  is  probable  that  this  porch  chamber  was  the 
room  originally  designed  as  a  place  of  meeting  for  the 
Council  as  well  as  for  the  General  Court.  On  the  sixth 
of  November,  1691,  the  former  body  convened  at  the 
residence  of  the  elder  Nathaniel  Bacon  in  York  county; 
and  one  month  later,  at  Tyndall's  Point.  There  were 
only  five  members  present  at  each  of  these  meetings.3 
At  this  date,  Lieut. -Governor  Nicholson  was  filling  the 
office  of  Governor;  and  as  he  was  in  the  habit  of  visiting 
from  time  to  time  the  different  parts  of  the  Colony,  it 

1  It  was  here  that,  on  one  occasion,  the  English  Commissioners, 
Morryson,  Berry,  and  Jeffreys,  found  the  Governor  and  Council 
in  session;  see  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1676-77,  p.  83. 

2  Minutes  of  Assembly,  Oct.  8,  1685,  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1682- 
95,  pp.  308,  309. 

3  Minutes  of  Council,  Nov.  6,  Dec.  8,  1691,  Colonial  Entry  Book 
1680-95. 


390  Political  Condition 

is  probable  that,  during  his  administration,  the  Council 
far  more  frequently  than  was  usual  came  together  at  the 
country  homes  of  its  principal  members.  In  the  clos- 
ing years  of  the  century,  the  regular  place  of  meeting 
was  still  Sherwood's  residence  at  Jamestown;  but  if 
there  was  any  special  reason  why  a  session  should  be 
held  at  any  other  place  in  the  Colony,  the  Councillors 
are  still  found  assembling  there  at  the  Governor's 
call;  for  instance,  in  1700,  when  the  trial  of  the  pirates 
captured  in  Lynnhaven  Bay  was  arranged  to  come  off 
at  Elizabeth  City,  the  Council  was  ordered  by  Nicholson 
to  convene  there.1 

1  Minutes  of  Assembly,  May  16,  1695,  Colonial  Entry  Book, 
1682-95;  Nicholson's  Letter  dated  May  28,  1700,  B.  T.  Va.,  vol. 
viii.,  Doct.  16. 


CHAPTER  XVII 
Secretary  of  State:   Incumbents  of  the  Office 

ONE  of  the  most  important  of  all  the  offices  estab- 
lished in  the  Colony  during  the  Seventeenth 
century  was  the  Secretaryship  of  State.  This 
office,  like  that  of  the  Councillor,  could,  in  case  it  became 
vacant,  be  rilled  temporarily  by  the  Governor  on  his 
own  responsibility,  but  it  was  necessary  that  his  nomi- 
nation should  be  reported  to  the  King  for  approval.  In 
actual  practice,  all  permanent  appointments  to  the 
position  were  made  by  the  King  on  the  special  recom- 
mendation of  the  Governor.1 

The  first  person  to  occupy  the  Secretaryship  was 
William  Strachey,  who  reached  Virginia  in  1610  in 
company  with  Lord  De  la  Warr.2  At  this  time,  the 
office  was  associated  with  that  of  Recorder.  Strachey 
belonged  to  a  very  ancient  and  honorable  family,  and 
was  a  man  of  marked  literary  talent,  as  proven  by 
his  interesting  work  descriptive  of  the  conditions 
prevailing  in  the  Colony  in  these  early  years.  He  was 
succeeded  by  the  celebrated  John  Rolfe,  who  also  com- 
bined in  himself   the   two   offices   of   Secretary  and 

1  B.  T.  Va.,  1697,  v°l-  vif  PP-  J43-4-  Though  the  Councillors  and 
Secretary  were  officers  of  a  colony,  they  were  generally  referred 
to  as  "Councillors  of  State"  and  "Secretary  of  State." 

2  A  Briefe  Declaration,  p.  74,  Colonial  Records  of  Virginia,  State 
Senate  Doct.  1874,  Extra. 

39i 


392  Political  Condition 

Recorder.  Pory,  whose  appointment  occurred  in  1618, 
occupied  the  post  of  Secretary  only,  and  was  the  first 
man  to  perform  exclusively  the  duties  incident  to  the 
reconstituted  office  from  this  time  until  the  end  of  the 
century.1  He  had  won  the  degree  of  Master-of-Arts 
when  a  student  at  Caius  College;  had  afterwards  been 
elected  to  a  seat  in  Parliament;  and  was  a  man  of 
superior  capacity  and  numerous  accomplishments.2 
He  was  followed  by  Christopher  Davison,  the  eldest  son 
of  William  Davison,  a  distinguished  Secretary  of  State 
during  the  reign  of  Elizabeth,  a  monarch  who  evinced 
extraordinary  discernment  in  selecting  her  public 
servants.  Davison  remained  in  the  position  until 
1624,  the  year  when  the  Company's  letters-patent  were 
recalled;  he  then  seems  to  have  been  succeeded,  at  least 
temporarily,  by  Edward  Sharpless,  who  was  compelled 
to  submit  to  an  ignominious  punishment  for  secretly 
delivering  to  the  English  Commissioners,  sent  out  to 
investigate  the  affairs  of  the  Colony,  copies  of  valuable 
papers,  among  which  were  communications  that  had 
passed  between  the  Governor,  Council,  and  House  of 
Burgesses,  on  one  side,  and  the  Company,  on  the  other. 
For  this  offence,  he  was  arrested,  set  in  the  pillory,  and 
condemned  to  lose  both  of  his  ears;  but  the  latter  part 
of  the  sentence  was  modified  to  the  slight  clipping  of 
one  ear  alone.3 

In  March,  1625-6,  William  Claiborne,  who  was  sprung 
from  a  family  of  high  distinction  long  identified  with  the 
county  of  Westmoreland  in  England,  and  who,  before 

1  "The  first  that  was  ever  chosen  and  appointed  by  Commission 
from  the  Council  and  Company  in  England  under  their  hands  and 
seals" ;  see  Brown's  First  Republic,  p.  291. 

2  William  and  Mary  College  Quart.,  vol.  x.,  pp.  167-9. 

3  British  Colonial  Papers,  vol.  iii.,  No.  41. 


Secretary  of  State :  Incumbents  of  Office  393 

the  end  of  many  years,  was  destined  to  play  a  conspicu- 
ous part  in  resisting  the  demands  and  orders  of  the 
authorities  of  Maryland,  was  appointed  to  the  office  of 
Secretary.1  About  ten  years  later,  Richard  Kemp, 
of  a  family  equally  well  known  in  Suffolk,  England,  is 
found  in  possession  of  the  same  office,  to  which  he  had 
been  elevated  on  the  special  recommendation  of  the 
Duke  of  Lenox  and  the  Earl  of  Pembroke,  a  proof  of 
his  enjoyment  of  very  extensive  social  and  political 
influence  in  his  native  country.2  In  1640,  George 
Reade,  a  nephew  of  Sir  Francis  Windebanke,  one  of  the 
English  Secretaries  of  State,  was  nominated  to  the 
post;  and  he  continued  to  hold  it  until  1642,  when 
Kemp  was,  for  the  second  time,  installed.  Kemp  was  a 
man  of  a  contentious  nature,  and  like  so  many  of  his 
contemporaries,  of  a  greedy  and  grasping  disposition. 
Reference  has  already  been  made  to  his  discreditable 
connection  with  the  outrageous  sentence  passed  on 
Rev.  Mr.  Panton.  About  1638,  Jerome  Hawley ,  recently 
appointed  to  the  Treasurership  of  the  Colony,  declared 
that,  before  his  arrival  at  Jamestown,  Kemp  "had 
gotten  into  his  hand  the  despatch  of  all  business, " 
and  so  keenly  did  he  resent  Hawley's  diversion  to  him- 
self of  the  profits  of  the  Treasurership,  that  he  sought 
to  irritate  him  by  claiming  precedence  over  him  as  the 
first  Councillor  in  length  of  service,  if  not  as  Secretary 
of  State;  and  for  some  time  refused  to  sign  any  order 
which  was  to  be  signed  also  by  Hawley,  unless  his 
name  was  to  be  written  first.  Certain  fees  derived  by 
him  from  issuing  public  patents  were  declared  by  the 
royal  instructions  to  belong  to  the   Treasurer;   this 

1  Robinson  Transcripts,  p.  43. 

2  See  letter  of  Kemp  to  Charles  L,  Sept.,  1634,  British  Colonial 
Papers,  vol.  viii.,  1634-5,  No.  31. 


394  Political  Condition 

further  increased  Kemp's  anger  and  animosity,  and 
made  him  more  resolute  to  "keep  a  distance, " 
as  he  expressed  it,  between  that  official  and 
himself. 1 

Richard  Lee  occupied  the  Secretaryship  in  the  inter- 
val between  1646  and  1652,  and  was  succeeded  by  Wil- 
liam Claiborne,  who  thus  received  the  appointment  for 
the  second  time ;  but  as  he  had  served  as  a  Commissioner 
of  Parliament  in  165 1,  when  the  Colony  had  been  forced 
to  submit  to  the  English  fleet,  and  was  very  closely 
identified  with  the  local  government  during  the  Pro- 
tectorate, he  failed  to  obtain  a  new  commission  when  the 
Stuarts  were  restored  to  the  throne.  Thomas  Ludwell, 
always  a  loyal  supporter  of  the  royal  cause,  was  pro- 
moted to  the  place  in  March,  1 660-1,  and  continued  to 
hold  the  ofhce,  apparently  without  interruption,  until 
September,  1676,  when  he  seems  to  have  been  re- 
appointed,2 but  only  filled  the  position  for  a  short  time, 
as  Daniel  Parke  soon  became  Secretary  by  the  nomina- 
tion of  Governor  Jeffreys.  Parke  was  followed  by 
Philip  Ludwell;  and  Ludwell  by  Nicholas  Spencer.3 
These  three  men  were  amongst  the  most  conspicuous 
citizens  of  Virginia,  whether  considered  from  the  point 
of  view  of  influential  family  connections,  large  wealth, 
or  important  public  services.  Spencer  died  in  1689, 
and  was  succeeded  by  William  Cole,  who  seems  to  have 
combined  with  the  office  the  collectorship  of  the  Lower 


1  See  Hawley's  letter  dated  May  17, 1638,  British  Colonial  Papers, 
vol.  ix.,  No.  no. 

2  Herring's  Statutes,  vol.  ii.,  p.  39;  Randolph  MS.,  vol.  iii.,  pp. 
286,  356;  Robinson  Transcripts,  p.  260. 

3  Va.  Maga.  of  Hist,  and  Biog.,  vol.  ix.,  p.  187;  Robinson  Tran- 
scripts, p.  267;  Henrico  County  Minute  Book,  1682-1701,  p.  39, 
Va.  St.  Libr. 


Secretary  of  State  :  Incumbents  of  Office  395 

District  of  James  River. 1  After  his  resignation  in  1 69  2 , 
the  Governor  filled  the  vacancy  by  the  temporary 
appointment  of  Christopher  Robinson,  a  citizen  of 
Middlesex  county,  who  had  settled  in  the  Colony  many 
years  before.2  He  died  in  the  following  year,  and  was 
succeeded  by  Ralph  Wormeley,  a  man  of  great  experi- 
ence in  public  affairs,  and  the  possessor  of  a  large  and 
valuable  estate.  When  his  health  became  precarious, 
he  was  allowed  the  assistance  of  a  deputy,  an  unusual 
privilege,  showing  the  high  esteem  in  which  he  was 
held.3 

It  will  be  seen  from  this  list  of  persons  occupying 
the  office  of  Secretary  of  State,  during  the  Seventeenth 
century,  that  the  incumbents  were,  without  an  ex- 
ception, drawn  from  the  circle  of  the  most  prominent 
citizens  of  the  Colony;  that  they  were  men  in  the 
enjoyment  of  competent  fortunes;  that  they  belonged, 
as  a  rule,  to  families  of  great  social  and  political  in- 
fluence; and  that  they  were  distinguished  for  superior 
talents  and  accomplishments,  and  generally  for  ripe 
experience  in  the  public  service. 

1  B.  T.  Va.  Entry  Book,  vol.  xxxvi.,  p.  9;  Orders  of  Council, 
June  24,  1692,  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1680-95. 

2  B.  T.  Va.,  1692,  No.  107,  p.  113;  Colonial  Entry  Book,  vol. 
xxxvi.,  p.  204;  Va.  Maga.  of  Hist,  and  Biog.,  vol.  vii.,  p.  17. 

3  Edmund  Jennings  was  appointed  Deputy-Secretary  in  Septem- 
ber, 1696;  see  B.  T.  Va.  Entry  Book,  vol.  xxxvi.,  p.  237;  vol. 
xxxvii.,  p.  12. 


CHAPTER  XVIII 
Secretary  of  State :  Powers  and  Remuneration 

WHAT  were  the  special  powers  exercised  by  the 
Secretary  of  State,  and  what  were  the  duties 
which  he  performed  ?  During  the  early  years 
of  the  Colony's  history,  the  principal  work  required  of 
him  was  to  transcribe  all  the  letters  dispatched  in  the 
name  of  the  Governor  and  Council,  whether  they  were 
independent  communications,  or  simply  replies  to  com- 
munications received.1  He  was,  in  1635,  expressly 
authorized  by  an  Act  of  Assembly  to  sign  commissions 
and  passports,  and  also  discharges  for  ships,  whenever 
the  Governor  happened  to  be  absent  from  Virginia ;  and 
under  the  same  circumstances,  he  was  to  be  held 
responsible  for  the  management  of  Indian  affairs.2 

At  the  time  of  the  first  nomination,  it  was  intended 
that  the  Secretary  should  be  the  legal  custodian  of  the 
Colony's  seal.  But  in  1640,  William  Claiborne  drew 
up  a  petition  to  the  King,  with  apparently  the  General 
Court's  approval,  in  which  he  begged  that  a  special 
Keeper  of  the  Seal  should  be  appointed,  as  the  present 
arrangement  for  its  use  occasioned  serious  and  constant 

«  Instructions  March  14,  1625-6,  Robinson  Transcripts,  p.  43. 

2  Randolph  MS.,  vol.  iii.,  p.  225.  There  is  an  instance  of  a  patent 
granted  by  the  Secretary  in  the  Governor's  absence;  see  Lower 
Norfolk  County  Records,  vol.  1651-56,  p.  134. 

396 


Powers  and  Remuneration  397 

inconvenience.  This  prayer  seems  to  have  been  passed 
on  favorably,  for  Claiborne  obtained  the  new  place,  and 
was  thus  impowered  to  seal  all  patents,  charters,  grants, 
and  the  like,  which  were  to  be  finally  enrolled  in  his 
office  after  they  had  passed  through  the  office  of  the 
Secretary.  All  petitions,  answers,  and  interrogations 
were  also  to  be  filed  with  the  Keeper,  whilst  in  this 
office  there  were  to  be  drafted  all  subpoenas,  and  all 
other  writs  that  issued  as  out  of  Chancery.1 

When  this  new  office  was  proposed,  it  was  declared 
that  there  was  no  intention  of  curtailing  the  profits 
or  diminishing  the  duties  incident  to  the  Secretaryship. 
The  duties  belonging  to  that  office  were  now  defined  as 
consisting  of,  first,  transcribing  all  the  letters  dispatched 
by  the  Governor  and  Council,  whether  they  were  in 
the  initiative,  or  merely  in  reply;  secondly,  drawing  up 
and  recording  all  public  documents,  such  as  patents, 
commissions,  charters,  freedoms,  and  extraordinary 
warrants  requiring  the  Governor's  signature  or  the 
stamp  of  the  signet;  thirdly,  preparing  the  necessary 
passports  for  persons  desiring  to  leave  Virginia,  whether 
for  England,  or  the  other  Colonies;  fourthly,  making 
copies  of  licenses  to  trade,  to  hunt  wild  hogs,  and  to  go 
aboard  ships  newly  arrived ;  fifthly,  drawing  up  probates 
of  wills  and  administration  papers,  and  recording  wills, 
inventories,  accounts,  judgments  in  common  law, 
orders  of  court,  fines,  licenses  for  marriages,  and  all 
things  relating  to  the  process  of  the  Prerogative  Court ; 
and,  finally,  drafting  a  full  report  of  the  proceedings  of 
the  General  Assembly.2 

If  the  office  of  Keeper  of  the  Seal  was  ever  established 
in  working  order,  it  did  not  remain  long  in  existence, 

«  Robinson  Transcripts,  p.  25. 
2  Ibid. 


398  Political  Condition 

if  for  no  other  reason  because  it  added  sensibly  to  the 
burden  of  public  taxation  without  being  indispensable. 
The  use  of  the  Colony's  seal  continued  to  be  an  impor- 
tant part  of  the  Secretary's  work ;  and  this,  as  well  as  the 
duties  defined  in  the  previous  paragraph,  were,  for  a 
long  period,  his  chief  official  occupation.  Owing  to  the 
smallness  of  the  population  and  the  simplicity  of  the 
economic  interests,  but  above  all,  to  the  constant  and 
urgent  necessity  for  economy  in  the  public  expenditures, 
there  were  combined  in  the  hands  of  the  Secretary  a 
variety  of  powers,  which,  in  England,  were  distributed 
among  several  offices  held  by  different  persons.  At  the 
close  of  the  century,  these  duties  had  not  changed 
materially  from  what  they  were  in  1640,  as  laid  down  by 
the  General  Assembly.  The  office  continued  to  be  in 
the  main  one  of  record,  and  most  of  its  tasks  were 
still  wholly  clerical.  There  were  entered  the  proceed- 
ings of  the  General,  Admiralty  and  Ecclesiastical  Courts; 
the  conveyances  and  letters-of-attorney  drawn  abroad 
and  sent  to  Virginia;  the  surveys  and  lists  of  headlights 
forming  the  ground  of  patents  to  the  public  domain; 
the  inquisitions  taken  in  case  of  escheats  and  the  grants 
of  such  lands;  the  accounts  of  the  different  probates  of 
wills  and  administrations;  certificates  of  births,  mar- 
riages, and  burials  occurring  in  all  parts  of  the  Col- 
ony; certificates  also  of  all  fines  and  forfeitures;  reports 
of  coroners;  the  returns  by  the  sheriffs  of  the  lists  of 
tithables;  certificates  of  the  admission  and  induction 
of  clergymen;  the  freedom  of  ships;  appeals  from  the 
county  courts;  and  certificates  of  innkeepers'  licenses 
and  the  like.  From  this  office  issued  all  civil  and  mili- 
tary commissions,  all  writs  for  choosing  Burgesses,  all 
original  and  judicial  writs  relating  to  proceedings  in  the 
General  Court,  all  naturalization  and  denization  papers, 


Powers  and  Remuneration  399 

and  all  passports  granted  to  persons  leaving  the  Colony. 
From  this  office  also  full  reports  of  the  General 
Assembly's  proceedings,  and  copies  of  all  new  laws  and 
orders  were  dispatched  to  England.1 

The  greater  part  of  the  business  transacted  in  the 
office  was  transacted  by  a  clerk,  styled  the  Clerk  of  the 
General  Court,  who  had  the  assistance  of  a  number 
of  under  clerks.  Theoretically,  the  Secretary  him- 
self was  the  chief  clerk  of  the  General  Court,  but  in- 
stead of  occupying  that  position  in  actual  practice, 
he  really  sat  on  the  bench  as  one  of  the  judges.2 

During  the  Company's  rule,  five  hundred  acres  of 
land  and  twenty  tenants  for  its  cultivation,  were  as- 
signed for  the  support  of  the  office.3  About  1620-1, 
the  number  of  these  tenants  had  been  so  greatly 
reduced  by  disease  and  other  causes  that  it  was  found 
necessary  to  grant  to  the  Secretary  the  right  to  charge 
fees  until  the  deficiency  could  be  made  good  by  im- 
porting other  tenants.4  An  Act  of  Assembly  passed 
in  1 63 1  authorized  the  incumbent  of  the  post  at  that 
time  to  obtain  a  patent  to  six  hundred  acres  of  land 
situated  as  near  to  Jamestown  as  the  area  of  country 
already  taken  up  permitted.5  A  few  years  afterwards, 
Kemp  complained,  with  some  bitterness,  that,  since  he 
had  occupied  the  position,  he  had  never  enjoyed,  as 
his  predecessors-  had  done,  the  proceeds  from  the  labor 
of  any  agricultural  servants  attached  to  the  office ;  that 
he  had  derived  no  benefit  from  the  use  or  sale  of  any 
cattle;    and  that  his  only  remuneration  consisted  of 

»  Present  State  of  Virginia,  1697-8,  Section  viii.;  Hening's 
Statutes,  vol.  i.,  p.  551.  See  also  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  ii.,  p.  512 ; 
Colonial  Entry  Book,  1685-90,  p.  30. 

*  Culpeper's  Report,  1681;    see  Campbell's  History  of  Virginia, 

V-  352- 

J  Randolph  MS.,  vol.  iii.,  p.  161.     *  Ibid.,  p.  167.     s  Ibid.,  p.  216. 


400  Political  Condition 

small  parcels  of  tobacco  dispersed  up  and  down  for  a 
distance  of  two  hundred  miles,  and  making  necessary  a 
heavy  expense  to  gather  them  in.  What  with  charges 
for  cask,  freight,  and  custom,  he  estimated  that  his 
salary  was  reduced  at  least  one  half  in  its  actual  value.1 
At  this  time,  the  perquisites  received  by  preceding 
secretaries  in  the  form  of  tenants  who  worked  their 
lands,  and  of  cattle  which  supplied  milk,  butter,  and 
beef  for  sale  or  consumption  by  the  Secretary's  family, 
had  been  entirely  extinguished.  Harvey  attributed 
this  fact  partly  to  mortality,  partly  to  the  neglect  and 
carelessness  of  the  Secretaries  themselves;  he  deemed  it 
only  just  that,  in  order  to  counterbalance  this  loss  of 
servants  and  cattle,  Kemp  should  be  paid  a  larger 
salary  than  the  previous  Secretaries  had  been  allowed; 
and  he,  therefore,  recommended  that  the  annual 
remuneration  for  his  services  should  not  be  suffered 
to  fall  short  of  twenty  thousand  pounds  of  tobacco.2 
As  late  as  1658,  the  Secretaries  still  held  a  remnant  of 
the  lands  assigned  to  their  office  by  the  Company;  but 
it  seems  to  have  added  but  little  to  their  income.  In 
the  course  of  that  year,  Secretary  Claiborne  leased 
fifty  acres  belonging  to  his  office  situated  in  Northamp- 
ton county,  at  a  rate  amounting  to  only  one  barrel  of 
corn  a  year.3 

A  fixed  schedule  of  fees  was,  in  1642-3,  arranged  for 
the  Secretary's  benefit.  It  was  provided  that  he 
could  legally  charge  fifty  pounds  of  tobacco  for  issuing 
a  patent,  a  freedom,  a  probate  under  seal,  and  a  license 
to  trade;  thirty  pounds  for  issuing  a  passport  or  an 

1  British  Colonial  Papers,  vol.  iv.,  No.  85,  I. 

2  Ibid.,  No.  85,  II. 

3  Northampton  County  Records,  vol.  1655-58  (last  part  of  vol- 
ume), p.  19. 


Powers  and  Remuneration  401 

execution;  and  fifteen  for  a  common  warrant  and  the 
copy  of  an  order.  For  recording  any  deed  or  paper, 
he  was  entitled  to  six  pounds  of  tobacco  for  every 
ordinary  sheet  of  handwriting  which  the  document 
contained.1 

Henry  Hartwell  estimated  the  amount  of  the  Secre- 
tary's average  income  from  year  to  year  at  a  figure 
ranging  between  four  hundred  and  five  hundred  pounds 
sterling.  This  sum  was  derived  from  his  regular  fees, 
and  also  from  certain  perquisites  he  was  permitted  by 
law  or  the  custom  of  the  country  to  receive.2  We 
learn  from  the  records  of  Lancaster  county  that,  about 
1700,  the  profits  of  the  office  reached  an  annual  total 
of  about  one  hundred  and  thirty-six  thousand  pounds  of 
tobacco,  of  which  about  twenty-seven  thousand  pounds 
were  derived  from  the  public  treasury,  and  about 
seventy-three  thousand  from  fees.  About  thirty-six 
thousand  represented  the  "  salaries  "  paid  by  the  county 
clerks  to  the  Secretary.3 

In  the  earlier  half  of  the  century,  when  the  business 
transacted  in  the  office  had  not  yet  become  very  heavy, 
the  time  appointed  for  the  attendance  of  the  Secretary 
or  his  deputy  covered  the  interval  between  eight  and  ten 
in  the  morning,  and  two  and  four  in  the  afternoon. 
Sundays  and  holidays  were,  of  course,  excepted.4 
It  should  not  be  forgotten  that  the  Secretary  served 
also  as  a  member  of  the  Council,  and  was,  therefore, 
ex  officio  a  member  of  the  Upper  House  and  of  the 

1  MS.  Laws  of  Virginia,  1642-3,  Clerk's  Office,  Portsmouth,  Va. 

2  B.  T.  Va.,  1697,  vol.  vi.,  pp.  143-4. 

3  Va.  Maga.  of  Hist,  and  Biog.,  vol.  viii.,  p.  184.  " Salary"  at 
this  time  seems  to  have  signified  also  "percentage."  The  36,000 
pounds  of  tobacco  was  most  probably  the  amount  paid  the  secretary 
by  the  county  clerks. 

4  Randolph  MS.,  vol.  iii.,  p.  225. 

vol.  n — 26 


402  Political  Condition 

General  Court,  the  duties  of  which  responsible  positions 
absorbed  much  of  his  attention  when  these  bodies  were 
in  session. 

The  apartment  in  which  the  records  of  the  Secretary's 
office  were  preserved  changed  several  times  under  the 
influence  of  the  different  vicissitudes  marking  the  his- 
tory of  the  most  important  public  buildings  situated  at 
Jamestown.  An  order  of  Assembly,  in  1 6 73 ,  impowered 
the  Secretary  to  occupy  the  garret  belonging  to  the 
eastern  side  of  the  State-House. *  After  the  destruction 
of  Jamestown  a  few  years  later,  the  incumbent  of  the 
office  was  permitted  to  remove  the  records  in  his 
custody  to  his  residence  at  Richneck.  This  was  allowed 
as  a  measure  of  safety  and  convenience.2  When  the 
new  State-House  was  completed  in  1685,  the  room  under 
the  apartment  in  which  the  General  Assembly  met  was 
granted  to  the  Secretary  as  a  place  where  to  store  all 
the  books  and  papers  with  whose  keeping  he  was 
charged.  This  room  seems  to  have  been  divided  from 
the  General  Court  chamber  by  a  narrow  partition.3 

1  Orders  of  Assembly,  October,  1673,  Colonial  Entry  Book, 
vol.  lxxxvi. 

2  Orders  of  Assembly,  1676-7,  Colonial  Entry  Book,  vol.  lxxxvi. 

3  Minutes  of  Assembly,  Oct.  8,  1685,  Colonial  Entry  Book, 
1682-95. 


CHAPTER  XIX 
House  of  Burgesses :  First  Legislative  Bodies 

THE  first  body  possessing  a  lawmaking  power  to 
assemble  in  Virginia,  and,  therefore,  in  any  of 
the  American  Colonies  of  England,  was  composed 
of  the  President  and  Council  chosen  in  accord  with  the 
provisions  of  the  charter  of  1606.  The  instructions  for 
the  administration  of  the  affairs  oversea  expressly 
declared  that  this  body  should  have  the  authority  to 
formulate  "constitutions  and  ordinances"  for  "the 
better  order,  government,  and  peace  of  the  people"; 
but  it  was  denied  all  right  to  adopt  regulations  touching 
the  loss  of  life  or  limb  as  punishment  for  any  crime. 
The  various  regulations  to  be  framed  by  the  President 
and  Council  were  required  to  conform  strictly  to  the 
general  law  of  England;  and  they  could  at  any  time 
be  altered  or  annulled  by  the  King,  to  whom  they  had 
to  be  submitted  for  approval . x  It  would  seem  that ,  to  a 
certain  extent,  the  President  and  Council  performed 
very  much  the  same  functions  as  the  Governor  and 
Council  discharged  later  on  when  they  came  to  serve 
as  an  Upper  House  or  Senate.  It  was  in  this  respect 
at  least  as  if  they  constituted  a  single  chamber  in  which 
acts  of  legislation  originated  and  were  passed  on  finally. 

1  Instructions,  1606,  Brown's  Genesis  of  the  United  States,  vol.  i., 
P-  73- 

403 


404  Political  Condition 

The  legislative  powers,  or  powers  substantially  legisla- 
tive, granted  to  this  Council,  associated  with  the  memo- 
rable provision  of  the  charter  of  1606  guaranteeing  to 
the  colonists  all  the  rights  of  "  native-born  English- 
men," must,  in  no  very  remote  future,  have  led  to  the 
calling  together  of  a  General  Assembly  even  if  Virginia 
had  continued  from  the  beginning  to  be  subject  directly 
to  the  Crown,  instead  of  being  transferred,  after  1609, 
to  the  control  of  the  London  Company.  That  the 
colonists  at  a  very  early  date  believed  that  such  an 
Assembly  could  be  legally  summoned  under  the 
authority  of  this  particular  clause  was  shown  by  the 
fact  that  the  arrival  of  Captain  Newport  alone  pre- 
vented the  meeting  of  such  a  popular  body.  It  is 
probable  that  the  crying  distress  and  want  prevailing 
at  that  hour  in  Jamestown  had  suggested  to  the  minds 
of  the  perplexed  and  despairing  settlers, — led  in  this 
instance  by  the  Recorder,  Gabriel  Archer, — that  an 
assembly  of  delegates  chosen  by  the  universal  voice 
might  be  able  to  adopt  some  remedy  for  the  frightful 
evils  of  their  situation.  It  was  a  natural  hope  to  rise 
in  the  breasts  of  Englishmen  accustomed  for  so  long  a 
time  to  popular  discussion  of  all  questions  affecting 
the  interests  of  the  community.1 

Even  under  the  charter  of  1609,  by  which  Virginia 
passed  under  the  administration  of  a  Company,  the 
Governor  and  Council  enjoyed  powers  substantially 
legislative  in  character.  De  la  Warr,  by  the  terms  of 
his  commission,  was  authorized  to  rule  the  Colony  by 
such  regulations  as  the  Council  and  himself  should 
think  fit  to  pass,  provided  that  these  regulations  were 
within  the  scope  of  the  rights  granted  to  the  Company 

»  Wingfield's  Discourse,  p.  lxxxvi.,  Arber's  edition  of  Captain 
John  Smith's  Works. 


First  Legislative  Bodies  405 

itself  in  its  letters-patent. !  Such  was  the  warrant  for  the 
Divine  Laws  introduced  by  Lieut  .-Governor  Gates,  and 
for  the  Martial  Laws  introduced  by  Dale,  as  De  la  Warr's 
representatives,  during  his  absence  from  Virginia.2 
These  distinguished  men,  were,  no  doubt,  acting  with 
the  Council's  approval  in  adopting  these  remarkable 
ordinances,  which,  therefore,  were  practically  the  re- 
sult of  the  exercise  of  a  legislative  power  more  or  less 
distinctly  lodged  in  the  Governor  and  Council  at  a 
time  when  this  body  was  not  as  yet  hampered  in  its 
enactments  by  its  association  with  a  House  of 
Burgesses. 

A  somewhat  similar  power  was  possessed  for  a  short 
period  by  the  leaders  of  the  particular  plantations, 
hundreds,  or  colonies  established  by  them  in  Virginia 
in  the  interval  between  16 18  and  1620.  These  men 
were  specially  authorized  by  the  quarter  court  of  the 
Company  in  London  to  associate  with  themselves 
divers  of  the  gravest  and  discreetest  of  their  companions 
"  to  make  orders,  ordinances,  and  constitutions  for  the 
better  ordering  and  directing  of  their  servants  and 
business/ '  It  was  provided  in  this  instance,  as  in  all 
others,  that  the  regulations  should  not  be  repugnant 
to  the  laws  of  England.3 

It  was  not  until  161 9  that  the  first  legislative  assembly 
of  English-speaking  people  to  convene  in  the  Western 
Hemisphere  met  at  Jamestown;  and  from  that  year, 
which  was  made  forever  memorable  by  this  great  event, 


»  Commission  of  De  la  Warr,  Brown's  Genesis  of  the  United  States, 
vol.  i.,  p.  379. 

2  Dale's  Martial  Code  contained  the  thirty-two  Articles  of  War 
which  had  been  adopted  for  the  regulation  of  the  Army  in  the 
Netherlands;  Neill's  Va.  Co.  of  London,  p.  75. 

3  Abstracts  of  Proceedings  of  Va.  Co.  of  London,  vol.  i.,  p.  39. 


406  Political  Condition 

to  the  present  day,  there  has  been  no  discontinuance  in 
practice  of  the  principle  of  popular  representation 
within  the  area  of  country  covered  by  the  modern 
United  States.  The  earliest  of  all  the  Assemblies  was 
composed  of  the  Governor  and  Council  sitting  as  a  Senate 
or  Upper  Chamber,  and  of  a  certain  number  of  elected 
delegates  sitting  as  a  House  of  Burgesses  or  Lower 
Chamber.  Of  the  two  branches,  the  House  of  Burgesses 
was  the  most  powerful,  the  most  distinctive,  and  there- 
fore, the  most  interesting.  This  body  was  often  and  not 
inappropriately  spoken  of  as  "the  Assembly,"  as  if 
it  constituted  the  very  heart,  brain,  and  soul  of  the 
Colony's  legislature,  as  in  reality  it  did.  It  was  also 
very  frequently  designated,  owing  to  its  resemblance 
to  the  Lower  House  of  Parliament,  as  the  "  House  of 
Commons,"  a  branch  that  represented  most  directly  the 
interests  of  the  people  at  large.1 

Before  enumerating  and  describing  the  powers  of 
the  House  of  Burgesses,  it  will  be  appropriate  to  give 
some  account  of  the  manner  in  which  the  members 
were  summoned,  the  basis  of  the  right  of  suffrage,  the 
organization  of  the  Chamber,  and  the  like. 

1  Randolph  MS.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  286. 


V 


CHAPTER  XX 

House  of  Burgesses:  Summons  and  Basis  of 
Suffrage 

THE  course  followed  in  summoning  the  Burgesses 
remained  in  practice  almost  precisely  the  same 
throughout  the  Seventeenth  century.  The 
power  of  convoking  them  was,  as  we  have  already  seen, 
vested  in  the  Governor  acting  with  the  approval  of  the 
Council.1  The  formal  summons  always  ran  in  the 
Governor's  name;  and  in  case  he  neglected,  purposely 
or  unintentionally,  to  sign  the  writs  of  election  and  to 
order  their  dispatch,  the  Secretary  was,  during  the 
period  of  the  Commonwealth,  required  to  do  both  in  his 
stead;  and  if  the  Secretary  also  failed  to  perform  the 
duty,  the  sheriff  of  each  county  was  authorized  to  call 
the  people  together  to  cast  their  votes  for  delegates.2 
In  1676,  when  the  Colony  had  fallen  into  a  state  of 
great  distraction,  the  proclamation  summoning  the 
Assembly  was  signed  by  five  members  of  the  Council, 
headed  by  the  younger  Nathaniel  Bacon,  a  course 
recommended  to  him  by  several  of  his  trusted  followers, 
whose  advice  he  had  sought.3     When  the  affairs  of 

»  See,  for  an  instance  of  the.  exercise  of  this  power,  Robinson 
Transcripts,   p.    238. 

2  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  i.,  p.  517.    / 
»  British  Colonial  Papers,  vol.  xxxyii.,  Doct.  42. 

407 


408  Political  Condition 

the  community  had  again  become  settled,  the  former 
custom  was  fully  restored;  the  regular  writ,  bearing  the 
seal  of  the  Colony,  was  again  drawn  in  the  name  of 
the  Governor  and  signed  by  him ;  it  was  issued  from  the 
Secretary's  office  at  least  forty-one  days  before  the  day 
for  taking  the  vote  arrived;  and  was  addressed  to  the 
different  sheriffs.1  These  officers  were,  about  the 
middle  of  the  century,  required  to  give  notice  at  least 
six  days  previous  to  the  day  of  election2 ;  and  it  was  the 
Secretary's  duty  to  see  that  the  writs  reached  their 
hands  in  time  to  allow  this  to  be  done.  In  order  to 
accomplish  this  with  certainty,  he  was  expected  to  act 
with  expedition,  as  a  delay  in  forwarding  the  writs 
might  make  it  impossible  for  the  sheriffs  to  spread  the 
announcement  among  the  people  before  the  appointed 
day.3  For  his  trouble  in  sending  out  the  writs,  the 
Secretary  received  one  hogshead  of  tobacco  from  each 
county  entitled  to  join  in  the  election.4 

An  Act  of  Assembly,  passed  in  1654-5,  provided  that, 
ten  days  after  a  writ  of  election  had  been  placed  in  the 
hands  of  the  sheriff,  he  was  to  publish  it  in  the  usual 
manner,  and  then,  in  person  or  by  deputy,  proceed 
from  house  to  house  for  the  purpose  of  informing  every 
person  entitled  to  vote  of  the  date  of  the  proposed 
election.5  At  a  later  period,  as  soon  as  the  writ  was 
delivered  to  this  officer,  he  was  required  to  send  a  copy 
of  it,  with  the  designated  day  endorsed  on  the  back,  to 
the  minister  of  every  parish  situated  in  his  county, 
with  the  request  that  it  should  be  read  before  the 

»  Beverley's  History  of  Virginia,  Section  House  of  Burgesses. 

2  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  i.,  pp.  299-300. 

3  Ibid.,  vol.  ii.,  pp.  22,  106. 

*  Ibid.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  22;  Randolph  MS.,  vol.  iii.,  p.  286. 
5  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  i.,  p.  411. 


Summons  and  Basis  of  Suffrage       409 

congregation  at  least  two  Sundays  in  succession;  and 
when  this  had  been  done,  a  certificate  of  the  fact,  with 
the  copy  of  the  writ,  had  to  be  returned  to  the  sheriff. 
Should  the  latter  fail  to  send  a  copy  to  each  minister, 
he  became  liable  to  a  fine  of  two  thousand  pounds  of 
tobacco.1  At  the  end  of  the  century,  every  sheriff  was 
authorized  to  employ  a  certain  number  of  persons, 
usually  the  constables,  to  give  notice  to  each  freeholder 
residing  in  his  county  of  the  appointed  time  and  place 
of  election.2 

Who  was  entitled  to  cast  a  vote  ?  There  seems  to  be 
no  conclusive  proof  that  the  members  of  the  first 
Assembly,  which  met  in  1619,  were  chosen  by  the 
suffrage  of  all  the  freemen  residing  in  the  Colony, 
irrespective  of  whether  or  not  they  were  owners  of 
property.  The  probability  is  that  the  right  to  vote 
was  in  the  beginning  enjoyed  by  every  male  person  of 
the  legal  age  who  was  neither  a  white  servant  nor  a 
black  slave,  for  the  only  important  change  known  to 
have  been  made  in  the  franchise  previous  to  1654-5 
was  one  qualifying  the  privilege.  In  1645,  not  on^Y 
did  every  freeman  possess  the  right  to  vote,  but  also 
"  every  freeman  who  was  a  covenanted  servant."  This 
expression  perhaps  referred  to  men  who  had  obtained 
their  freedom,   and   afterwards  entered  into   second 

*  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  iii.,  p.  82. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  172.  "Upon  ye  Readinge  and  publication  of  the  writ 
for  Burgesses,  it  is  the  judgment  of  the  court  that  some  of  them- 
selves with  other  part  of  the  freeholders  of  the  said  county  have 
not  had  due  notice  of  the  time  of  election,  and  it  being  affirmed  by 
the  sub-sheriff  that  there  was  a  precept  directed  by  the  High 
Sheriff  to  the  constables  of  the  said  county  as  expeditiously  as  could 
be  after  the  writ  came  in  his  hands  to  give  immediate  notice  to  the 
freeholders  of  the  time  for  election  of  Burgesses,  the  defeat  of  which 
the  Sheriff  is  ordered  to  enquire  into,  and  report  to  next  court"; 
Northampton  County  Records,  vol.  1689-98,  p.  243. 


410  Political  Condition 

indentures;  or  what  is  more  probable,  it  meant  simply 
men  who  were  now  free,  but  who  had  once  been  ser- 
vants under  covenant.1  So  solicitous  was  the  General 
Assembly  at  this  time  that  every  freeman  should  cast 
his  vote  that  anyone  failing  to  do  so  without  proper 
excuse  was  heavily  fined.2 

In  1654-5,  as  already  stated,  the  right  to  vote  was 
restricted  to  housekeepers,  whether  freeholders,  lease- 
holders, or  ordinary  tenants.  Only  one  person  in  a 
family  was  now  entitled  to  the  franchise.3  In  the 
course  of  the  following  year,  this  regulation  was 
abolished,  on  the  ground  that  "it  was  hard  and  dis- 
agreeable to  reason  that  any  person  should  pay  equal 
taxes,  and  yet  have  no  vote."  All  freemen  were,  in 
consequence  of  this  change  of  view,  again  admitted 
to  the  enjoyment  of  the  suffrage.4  This  law  remained 
in  force  until  1670,  when  it  was  repealed.  Two  reasons 
were  given  for  this  action  at  the  time :  First,  as  long  as 
the  only  qualification  for  voting  was  to  be  a  freeman, 
a  very  large  proportion  of  those  possessing  the  right 
were  men  who  had  served  their  time  as  agricultural 
servants,  and  being  without  property,  had  no  real  stake 
in  the  welfare  of  the  country.  It  was  found  (so  the 
repealing  Act  stated)  that  these  men  were  more  dis- 
posed to  raise  a  tumultuous  disturbance  at  elections 
than  to  use  the  franchise  with  such  judgment  as  to 
assure  the  promotion  to  office  of  persons  who  would 
preserve  the  peace  and  advance  the  prosperity  of  the 
whole  community.  Secondly,  in  England  (the  laws 
of  which  had  to  be  followed  in  the  Colony  as  far  as 

1  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  i.,  p.  333. 

2  Ibid.;  vol.  ii.f  p.  82. 

3  Ibid.,  vol.  i.,  p.  411. 

<  Randolph  MS.,  vol.  iii.,  p.  266;  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  i.,  p.  403. 


Summons  and  Basis  of  Suffrage       411 

possible),  the  suffrage  was  confined  to  those  citizens 
whose  ownership  of  real  and  personal  estate  forced 
them  in  practice  to  consult  the  best  interests  of  their 
parish,  their  shire,  and  their  country  in  every  vote 
they  cast.  Under  the  influence  of  these  two  reasons, 
the  General  Assembly  restricted  the  suffrage  to  free- 
holders and  householders,  as  the  persons  who  had  to 
bear  the  chief  burden  of  taxation.1 

Upon  their  face,  these  two  grounds  for  the  adoption 
of  a  qualified  suffrage  in  the  Colony  appear  to  have 
been  sensible  and  judicious.  In  our  own  age,  when 
there  is  a  decided  tendency  even  in  the  freest  lands  to 
narrow  the  circle  of  voters  in  each  community  to  prop- 
erty holders,  the  view  to  be  taken  of  this  colonial  law 
ought  to  be  one  that  should  at  least  show  an  intelligent 
understanding,  if  not  entire  approval,  of  its  spirit.  It 
is  possible  that  the  Assembly  justified  to  some  degree 
their  passage  of  such  an  Act  by  the  assertion  that, 
among  the  freemen  who  had  been  agricultural  servants, 
a  proportion,  small  it  may  be  and  exercising  little 
influence,  had  been  sent  over  as  convicts,  and,  therefore, 
were  not  to  be  looked  upon  as  desirable  additions  to  the 
citizenship.  It  is  true  that  this  personal  element  had 
existed  in  the  Colony  from  a  very  early  date,  but,  by 
1670,  it  may  have  become  a  more  important  factor  in 
elections  owing  to  the  introduction  during  previous 
years  of  so  many  political  prisoners,  whose  discon- 
tented state  of  mind,  no  doubt,  continued  even  after 
they  had  acquired  their  freedom.  There  is,  however, 
every  reason  to  think  that  such  a  justification  for  the 
restriction  of  the  suffrage  was  never  advanced,  as  it 
would  have  been  wholly  untenable,  not  only  because 

«  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  ii.,  p.  280;  Acts  of  Assembly,  1669-70, 
Colonial  Entry  Book,  vol.  lxxxvi. 


412  Political  Condition 

the  number  of  convicts  among  the  freemen  was  too 
insignificant  to  be  seriously  considered,  but  also  be- 
cause it  would  have  been  easy  by  a  single  clause  in  the 
franchise  law  to  shut  out  of  the  body  of  voters  every 
man  who  at  any  time  had  been  sentenced  for  some 
offence.  The  single  regulation  established  by  the 
Assembly  was  that  no  one  without  property  should 
enjoy  the  franchise.  If  a  man  possessed  property,  he 
was  entitled  to  that  right  whether  he  had  always  been 
a  freeman  or  not,  or  whether  or  not  his  reputation  was 
devoid  of  the  stain  of  a  conviction  for  crime.  Practi- 
cally, the  qualification  does  not  seem  to  have  been  a 
radical  one;  indeed  it  was  far  less  onerous  in  Virginia 
than  in  England,  where  it  was  so  much  more  difficult 
to  acquire  property,  whether  real  or  personal.  In 
Virginia,  on  the  other  hand,  it  was  in  the  power  of  every 
able-bodied  man  who  had  the  least  desire  to  improve 
his  condition,  to  become,  if  not  the  owner  of  a  small 
estate  of  his  own  in  fee  simple,  then  the  renter  of  a  small 
tract  of  land  from  some  large  proprietor.  The  land- 
owners were  always  willing  to  lease  a  part  of  the  super- 
abundant area  of  ground  in  their  possession,  and  such 
a  leasehold  title,  by  making  the  tenant  a  householder, 
gave  him  the  right  to  participate  in  the  suffrage.  It 
may  be  taken  for  granted  that  all  the  emancipated  ser- 
vants who  had  a  spark  of  energy  in  their  composition, 
an  industrious  spirit,  and  ambitious  impulses,  associ- 
ated with  the  common-sense  of  the  average  individual, 
made  the  most  of  the  extraordinary  opportunities  which 
the  vast  extent  of  unredeemed  and  idle  soil,  whether 
already  owned  by  some  one,  or  belonging  to  the  public 
domain  still  unpatented,  presented. 

In  the   light   of  these   opportunities,   the   General 
Assembly's  action  in  restricting  the  suffrage  appears 


Summons  and  Basis  of  Suffrage      413 

to  have  been  neither  unwise  nor  unjust.  When  the 
same  law  was  adopted  many  years  before,  it  is  probable 
that  the  motives  for  its  passage  were  the  same ;  and  as 
popular  government  in  Virginia  during  the  Seventeenth 
century  reached  its  highest  development  in  the  time  of 
the  Commonwealth,  these  motives  must  have  been 
extremely  powerful.  And  there  is  no  reason  to  think 
that  they  had  grown  less  powerful  by  1670,  when  the 
same  qualification  was  readopted.  Unfortunately, 
however,  for  the  absolute  sincerity  of  these  motives, 
the  new  law  was  passed  by  a  body,  and  at  a  time, 
which  has  not  unnaturally  exposed  the  measure  to 
grave  suspicion.  This  body  was  the  notorious  Long 
Assembly,  an  Assembly  that  deserved  the  condemna- 
tion which  its  selfish  and  arbitrary  proceedings  have 
received.  Seven  years  earlier,  when  this  Assembly 
had  just  begun  a  term  of  office  destined  to  cover  half  a 
generation,  and  when  it  still  reflected  the  sympathy 
with  the  people  at  large  imbibed  in  its  recent  election 
by  universal  suffrage,  its  members  had  resented  any 
change  in  the  franchise.  In  1663,  Berkeley  proposed 
that  taxation  should  be  imposed,  not  by  the  poll,  but 
by  the  acre.  The  Burgesses  at  once  replied  that,  if 
the  taxes  were  to  be  levied  on  land-owners  alone,  then 
they  alone  should  possess  the  right  of  electing  the  mem- 
bers of  the  House.  "  This,-"  they  declared,  "  the  other 
freemen,  who  are  more  in  number,  may  repine  to  be 
bound  to  those  laws  they  have  no  representatives  to 
assent  to  the  making  of."  "And,"  they  added,  "we 
are  so  well  acquainted  with  the  temper  of  the  people 
that  we  have  reason  to  believe  they  had  rather  pay 
their  tax  than  lose  their  privilege.  "*     Seven  years  later, 

1  See  Bancroft's  History  of  the   United  States,  vol.  ii.,  p.   207, 
quoting  one  of  the  General  Court  Records  afterwards  destroyed 


414  Political  Condition 

after  an  uninterrupted  enjoyment  of  power  under  the 
influence  of  the  great  reaction  in  England,  and  of 
Berkeley's  personal  example,  the  same  body  of  men, 
who  had  simply  adjourned  from  session  to  session 
without  submitting  themselves  as  a  whole  again  to 
the  electorate,  were  far  less  in  sympathy  with  the  popu- 
ular  wishes,  hopes,  and  feelings.  In  the  course  of  these 
seven  years,  they  had  passed  Acts  well  calculated  to 
arouse  the  opposition  and  indignation  of  the  people; 
and  in  spirit  and  conduct  seem  to  have  gradually  drifted 
away  from  their  former  popular  sympathies;  indeed, 
in  consequence  of  Berkeley's  unwarranted  course  in 
merely  proroguing  them  from  year  to  year,  they,  in 
time,  grew  to  be  practically  indifferent  to  popular 
approval,  and  practically  independent  of  popular  dis- 
satisfaction. It  was  just  at  the  moment  when  the 
people's  discontent  had  begun  to  rise  perceptibly  that 
this  self -perpetuating  Assembly,  for  it  was  in  reality 
no  more,  reached  the  conclusion  that  the  safety  of  the 
community  was  endangered  by  a  system  of  suffrage 
which  had  prevailed  with  but  one  intermission  since 
1619;  and  that  the  very  class  of  men  having  most 
reason  to  be  restive  under  the  burden  of  its  legislative 
measures,  was  the  very  class  which  it  ought  to  deprive 
of  the  right  to  vote.  It  is  possible  that  the  Assembly 
was  justified  in  thus  checking  an  unruly  element;  but 
there  is  good  reason  to  think  that  much  of  this  ele- 
ment's turbulence  had  been  caused  by  the  Assembly's 
own  conduct  as  a  legislative  body.  It  is  difficult  to 
say  how  far  this  restriction  of  the  suffrage  contributed 
to  the  subsequent  insurrection,  but  there  can  be  no 

in  the  conflagration  which  occurred  at  Richmond,  Va.,  in  1865, 
when  the  Confederates  evacuated  the  city. 


Summons  and  Basis  of  Suffrage      415 

doubt  that  it  had  an  important  influence  in  bringing 
about  that  movement,  which  was  such  a  brave  protest 
against  abuses  in  so  many  different  forms. 

Naturally,  the  change  in  the  suffrage  received  the 
approval  of  the  English  Government.  In  the  in- 
structions given  to  Berkeley  in  November,  1676,,  he 
was  directed  to  see  that  an  Act  to  restrict  the  right 
to  vote  to  freeholders  alone  was  passed.  The  chief 
reason  given  for  this  further  limitation  of  the  franchise 
was  that  it  would  place  the  Colony  in  this  respect  on 
the  same  footing  as  the  Mother  Country,  to  which  it 
was  expected  to  conform  as  nearly  as  possible  in  all 
its  laws. !  Almost  at  the  very  time  that  this  command 
was  being  formulated,  the  Reform  Assembly  was  hold- 
ing its  sessions,  and  one  of  its  first  measures  was  to 
restore  the  unqualified  suffrage  prevailing  in  Virginia 
previous  to  1670.  All  freemen,  whether  property- 
holders  or  not,  were  again  invested  with  the  right  to 
vote.2  This  regulation,  in  spite  of  the  instructions 
from  England  already  mentioned,  remained  in  force 
until  1684;  the  suffrage  was  then,  for  the  third  time  in 
the  history  of  the  Colony,  restricted.  After  this, 
several  successive  Governors  received  orders  from  the 
Commissioners  of  Trade  and  Plantation  to  see  that 
freeholders  alone  enjoyed  the  franchise  to  the  exclu- 
sion even  of  mere  householders3;  in  1699,  this  further 

1  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1675-81,  p.  112;  Hening's  Statutes,  vol. 
ii.,  p.  425.  Blackstone,  in  stating  the  qualifications  of  the  English 
voter,  declares  that  he  must  haye  an  estate  in  lands  and  tenements 
situated  in  the  county  where  he  voted ;  and  that  this  estate  must  be 
for  life  at  least  and  return  an  income  amounting  certainly  to  forty 
shillings;  that  he  must  be  twenty-one  years  of  age,  at  the  youngest; 
and  that  he  must  never  have  been  convicted  of  any  crime. 

2  Bacon's  Laws,  1676;  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  ii.,  p.  356. 

3  See  Instructions  to  Howard  by  James  II.  and  William  and 
Mary,  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1685-90,  pp.  38,  308. 


416  Political  Condition 

qualification  was  finally  adopted;  but  no  single  woman, 
or  minor,  or  popish  recusant,  whether  owning  a 
freehold  or  not,  was  allowed  to  participate  in  an 
election. 1 

»  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  iii.,  p.  172. 


CHAPTER  XXI 

House  of  Burgesses  :  Place  and  Manner  of 
Election 

AT  what  place  was  the  election  held?  It  would 
appear  that,  in  1633,  the  citizens  assembled 
at  the  sheriff's  residence  to  cast  their  votes.1 
A  law  passed  by  the  General  Assembly  a  few  years  later 
provided  that  no  man  should  be  compelled  to  leave  his 
own  "plantation"  in  order  to  express  his  preference 
for  some  one  to  serve  in  the  House  of  Burgesses  as  his 
county's  representative.  This  regulation  would  seem 
to  signify  that,  at  this  early  date,  the  sheriff  or  his 
deputies  visited  the  different  estates  on  the  appointed 
day  of  election,  and  received  the  separate  votes,  a  very 
tedious  method  for  those  officers,  but  one  highly  con- 
venient for  the  different  citizens  themselves.2  About 
six  years  after  this  plan  was  adopted,  it  was  declared 
that  the  election  should  be  held  wherever  the  county 

1  Accomac  County  Records,  vol.  1632-40,  p.  61,  Va.  St.  Libr. 

2  Randolph  MS.,  vol.  iii.,  p.  231.  The  sheriffs,  it  seems,  had  a 
short  time  before  "warned  the  inhabitants  out  of  their  plantations, 
not  only  contrary  to  the  privileges  of  the  places,  but  to  the  great 
inconvenience,  charges,  and  dangers  of  the  people  inhabiting  the 
said  places."  The  word  "plantations"  may  have  been  designed 
to  mean  "precincts"  or  "settlements,"  and  not  simply  separate 
estates.  In  other  words,  each  settlement  having  its  own  voting 
place,  it  was  not  necessary  for  the  sheriff  to  visit  each  planter's 
home  to  obtain  his  vote. 

vol.  11 — 27  417 


418  Political  Condition 

court  met,  which  might  be  in  a  permanent  court-house, 
or  in  a  private  residence,  or  even  in  a  tavern.1  This 
regulation  seems  to  have  commended  itself  to  popular 
favor,  owing  chiefly  to  the  fact  that  it  was  customary 
for  the  people,  at  stated  intervals,  to  assemble  at  the 
county  seat;  in  the  first  place,  this  spot,  being  centrally 
situated,  was  easily  reached;  and  in  the  second,  the 
claims  of  business  as  well  as  opportunities  for  diversion 
drew  a  large  crowd  to  every  session  of  the  county  court. 
The  announcement  that  an  election  of  Burgesses  was 
also  to  occur  offered  simply  an  additional  reason  why 
the  citizens  should  gather  there.  In  1660,  the  same 
regulation  was  readopted,  and  again  in  1670.2  An 
order  passed  in  Northampton  county  in  1677  stated 
incidentally  that  the  county  seat  had  long  been  the 
place  appointed  for  the  election  of  Burgesses3 ;  and  this 
fact  was  again  mentioned  in  the  text  of  the  franchise 
law  of  1699,4  a  proof  that  the  reasons,  which,  as  early 
as  1645,  had  made  the  county  seat  the  most  convenient 
place  for  such  an  election,  as  well  as  the  most  agreeable 
from  a  social  point  of  view,  remained  in  force  until  the 
close  of  the  century. 

In  what  manner  was  the  Burgess  chosen?  It  is 
now  impossible  to  find  out  whether  in  the  first  election 
held  in  the  Colony,  that  of  1619,  the  voter  declared  his 
preference  by  ballot  or  by  word  of  mouth.  As  the 
method  at  this  time  of  choosing  officers  in  the  quarter 
courts  of  the  London  Company  was  generally  by  use  of 
the  balloting  box,  it  is  quite  probable  that  the  same 
method  was  followed  in  Virginia  when  the  first  popular 

1  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  i.,  pp.  299-300;  vol.  ii.,  p.  280. 

2  Ibid.,  vol.  ii.,  pp.  20,  280. 

3  Northampton  County  Records,  Orders  Nov.  28,  1677. 
*  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  iii.,  p.  172. 


Place  and  Manner  of  Election        419 

election  took  place  there.  In  1642,  the  Burgesses  of 
Northampton  county  are  stated  to  have  been  selected 
by  a  "plurality  of  voices,"  an  expression  which  would 
seem  to  indicate,  beyond  doubt,  the  employment  of  the 
viva  voce  method.1  Only  four  years  later,  citizens 
very  frequently  assumed  the  right  to  cast  a  vote  through 
the  medium  of  a  letter  to  the  sheriff  addressed  to  him  at 
the  county  seat,  where  it  was  to  be  publicly  read  and 
counted;  but  the  General  Assembly  finally  pronounced 
this  course  illegal  because  calculated  to  produce  dis- 
order by  raising  disputes  as  to  the  genuineness  of  the 
signatures.  That  body  thereupon  adopted  the  regu- 
lation that  an  election  of  Burgesses  should  only  be 
valid  if  made  by  a  "plurality  of  voices";  and  that  no 
"handwriting"  should  thenceforth  be  received  as  a 
proof  of  a  voter's  preference.  It  is  possible  that  the 
word  "handwriting"  as  appearing  in  this  law  referred 
only  to  letters,  but  it  seems  most  probable  that  the 
General  Assembly  intended  to  make  the  viva  voce 
method  of  election  the  exclusive  method  to  be  followed 
in  the  Colony.2  As  soon  as  the  right  to  vote  was  sub- 
jected to  an  important  qualification  (this,  as  we  have 
seen,  occurred  in  1654-5) the  plan  of  expressing  a  choice 
by  "  subscription  "  was  adopted.  The  successful  can- 
didate was  described  as  having  secured  the  "major 
part  of  the  hands  of  the  electors.  "3  It  is  to  be  inferred 
from  this  that  the  method  followed  was  that  of  the 
ballot,  which  consisted  of  the  voter  writing  the  name 
of  the  person  he  preferred  on  a  piece  of  paper  and 

»  Northampton  County  Records,  Orders,  March  6,  1642.  The 
word  "voices"  may,  in  this  entry,  have  been  loosely  used  for 
*' votes"  or  "preferences";  but  the  probabilities  are  against  this. 

*  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  i.,  p.  333. 

3  Ibid.,  vol.  i.,  p.  411. 


420  Political  Condition 

endorsing  it  with  his  own  name.  There  is  no  reason  to 
think  that  this  act  was  attended  with  great  secrecy, 
as  in  modern  times. 

The  plan  of  the  ballot  commended  itself  so  highly  to 
public  favor  that  it  was  continued  even  after  the 
restoration  of  universal  suffrage,  which  followed  so 
soon.  In  retaining  this  method,  the  General  Assembly 
spoke  with  disapproval  of  the  "tumultuous  way"1 
once  prevailing,  an  additional  proof  that  the  expression 
11  plurality  of  voices  "  really  meant  the  viva  voce  manner 
of  choosing  Burgesses.  Nevertheless,  to  this  latter 
method  the  Colony  reverted  before  the  close  of  the 
century.2  The  plan  of  electing  by  plurality  of  voices 
was  then  made  subject  under  special  circumstances  to 
a  slight  modification :  if  the  election  of  a  Burgess  could 
not  be  determined  "on  the  view"  in  the  case  of  a 
disputed  result,  then  the  sheriff  was,  with  the  consent 
of  the  voters  present,  required  to  appoint  a  certain 
number  of  assistants,  with  instructions  to  take  the  poll 
in  writing;  but  before  each  person  was  permitted  to 
express  his  choice,  he  was  compelled  to  swear  that  he 
was  a  freeholder  in  the  county  or  town  where  the 
election  was  occurring.  This  election  was  to  be  de- 
clared void  if  it  could  be  proved  that  the  successful 
candidate  had  offered  the  voters  bribes  in  the  form  of 
money,  food,  or  liquor.3 

As  soon  as  the  election  had  taken  place,  and  the  name 
of  the  successful  candidate  was  announced,  it  was  the 
sheriff's  duty  to  return  that  name  to  the  Secretary's 
office  at  Jamestown.     This  was  done  by  writing  the 

»  Acts  of  Assembly,  1655-6;  Randolph  MS.,  vol.  iii.,  p.  266. 

2  Beverley's  History  of  Virginia,  section  relating  to  election  of 
Burgesses. 

3  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  iii.,  p.  172 


Place  and  Manner  of  Election         421 

name,  or  names,  if  there  were  more  than  one  Burgess 
chosen  for  the  county,  on  the  back  of  the  original 
writ,  and  forwarding  the  document  with  that  endorse- 
ment.1 In  1654-5,  the  penalty  for  making  a  false 
return  was  fixed  at  ten  thousand  pounds  of  tobacco; 
and  in  1699,  at  forty  pounds  sterling.2  It  was  no  bar 
to  election  as  a  Burgess  that  the  candidate  was  already 
the  incumbent  of  one  civil  position  in  the  county;  a 
citizen  could  be  at  the  same  time  a  justice  of  the  county 
court,  and  a  member  of  the  Lower  House;  or  he  might 
serve  simultaneously  as  the  sheriff  and  the  representa- 
tive of  his  county;  but  in  the  latter  case,  he  was  required 
to  appoint  a  deputy- sheriff  to  perform,  during  his  own 
absence  at  Jamestown,  all  the  duties  of  the  first  office.3 
At  one  period,  clergymen  were  forbidden  to  offer 
themselves  as  candidates  for  the  House4;  but  at  a  later 
date,  this  prohibition  seems  to  have  been  removed. 
The  English  rule  that  the  representatives  of  one  county 
might  be  selected  from  among  the  citizens  of  another 
was  followed  in  Virginia;  for  instance,  Thomas  Mathew, 
who  resided  in  Northumberland,  was  chosen  as  a 
Burgess  for  Stafford  about  1676;  and  a  few  years  after- 
wards, Colonel  St.  Leger  Codd  was  elected  at  the  same 

1  Acts  of  Assembly,  1662,  Colonial  Entry  Book,  vol.  lxxxix., 
p.  19.  The  endorsement  of  the  sheriff  ran  as  follows:  "By  virtue 
of  this  writ,  I  have  caused  to  be  legally  summoned  the  freeholders 
of  my  county  to  meet  this  day,  being  the  .  m.  .  day  of  ...  at  the 
courthouse  of  this  county,  being  the  usual  place  of  election  of 
Burgesses,  and  have  given  them  charge  to  make  the  election  of 
two  of  the  most  able  and  discreet  persons  of  said  county  for  their 
Burgesses,  who  accordingly  have  elected  and  chosen  A.  B.  and 
C.  D.,  Burgesses  for  said  county  for  the  next  General  Assembly." 
Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  iii.,  p.  172. 

2  Ibid.,  vol.  i.,  p.  411;  vol.  iii.,  p.  172. 

*  Richmond  County  Records,  Orders,  Nov.  12,  1692. 
«  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  i.,  p.  378;  Hawks,  p.  60. 


422  Political  Condition 

time  a  member  for  both  Lancaster  and  Northumber- 
land ;  and  as  he  decided  to  sit  in  the  House  as  the  Bur- 
gess for  the  latter  county,  a  new  writ  had  to  be  issued 
for  a  second  election  in  Lancaster.1 

i  Bacon's  Rebellion,  by  T.  M.,  p.  12;  Force's  Hist  Tracts,  vol.  i.; 
Minutes  of  Assembly,  1680,  Colonial  Entry  Book,  vol.  lxxxvi. 


CHAPTER  XXII 
House  of  Burgesses  :   Its  Membership 

THE  members  of  the  House  of  Burgesses  belonged 
to  the  circle  of  the  foremost  citizens  of  the 
Colony.  Although  all  ranks  of  freemen  enjoyed 
the  franchise  down  to  1670,  there  is  no  indication  that 
this  system  of  universal  suffrage  led  to  the  frequent 
election  of  representatives  of  an  inferior  standing  from 
a  social  point  of  view.  At  the  end  of  the  century, 
when  for  thirty  years  the  right  to  vote  had  been  subject 
to  a  qualification  (a  qualification,  however,  which  had 
not  deprived  the  electorate  entirely  of  its  popular 
character,  owing  to  the  facility  with  which  landed 
property  was  acquired  at  that  time) ,  Robert  Carter,  in 
accepting  the  Speakership  of  the  House,  declared  that 
this  body  consisted  "  of  the  better  sort  of  gentlemen 
from  all  parts  of  the  country.  "x  And  this  was  as  true 
of  the  early  as  it  was  of  the  later  years  in  the  history 
of  the  century.  In  fact,  the  same  condition  prevailed 
in  Virginia  as  in  the  Mother  County: — not  only  was 
every  prominent  family  represented  from  time  to  time 
among  the  Burgesses,  but  there  was  a  very  general 
sentiment  that  it  was  the  becoming  step  for  every  young 
man  of  promise  and  fortune,  whether  in  possession  or  in 
prospect,  to  enter  the  House  almost  as  soon  as  he  came 

«  Minutes  of  Assembly,  May  2,  1699;  B.  T.  Va.,  vol.  Hi. 

423 


424  Political  Condition 

of  age  in  order  that  he  might,  while  still  young,  acquire 
some  experience  of  public  affairs.  Perhaps,  not  a 
single  heir  to  a  well-known  name,  high  social  position, 
and  large  estate,  who  also  was  distinguished  for  marked 
capacity,  failed  to  present  himself  almost  immediately 
after  he  had  passed  his  minority,  to  the  voters  of  his 
county  as  a  candidate  for  this  honor.  The  course 
followed  in  this  respect  by  the  younger  William  Byrd 
was  that  followed  by  all  the  young  men  of  his  social 
class  able  to  lay  claim  to  anything  approaching  his 
personal  accomplishments  and  pecuniary  advantages. 
In  1696,  not  long  after  his  return  from  England,  where 
his  education  had  been  receiving  the  finishing  touches, 
he  was,  through  his  father's  influence,  chosen  a  member 
of  the  House  of  Burgesses ;  and  only  one  year  later,  so 
great  was  the  impression  made  by  his  talents  and  per- 
sonal charms,  and  in  such  high  consideration  was  his 
family  name  held,  that  he  was  sent  by  the  Assembly 
to  London  to  deliver  an  important  address  into  the 
hands  of  the  Board  of  Trade. 

In  Virginia,  as  in  England,  the  large  land-owner 
carried  so  much  weight  that  he  found  no  difficulty  in 
securing  the  election  of  a  son  to  the  House,  especially  if 
that  son  had  shown  that  he  possessed  decided  abilities ; 
and  this  facility  was  the  greater  when  the  electorate 
became  restricted  to  persons  owning  a  direct  interest  in 
the  soil,  either  as  freeholders  and  housekeepers,  as  in 
1670,  or  as  freeholders  alone,  as  in  1699.  The  broader 
the  plantation,  and  the  more  numerous  the  proprietor's 
slaves  and  herds,  the  more  extensive  was  the  influence 
exercised  by  him  among  voters  belonging  to  his  own 
calling,  and  the  more  easily  he  obtained  the  advance- 
ment of  any  person  of  his  own  blood  aspiring  to  enter 
public  life.     In  a  society  like  that  prevailing  at  this 


House  of  Burgesses :  Its  Membership     425 

time,  when  differences  in  social  rank  were  as  marked  as 
though  legally  recognized,  the  voters  of  every  county, 
no  doubt,  regarded  it  as  reflecting  distinction  on  them- 
selves to  be  represented  by  a  member  of  the  leading 
family  of  the  community;  and  if  that  member  happened 
to  be  in  the  first  flush  of  youthful  energy  and  ambition, 
the  interest  in  his  election  was  all  the  more  keen ;  such 
a  young  man  was  quite  probably  looked  upon  as 
simply  offering  to  perform  political  services  which  the 
electorate  had  a  right  to  expect  of  him  on  account  of 
the  example  set  at  the  same  age  by  his  own  father,  and 
perhaps  by  his  grandfather  also.  And  there  was  also, 
perhaps,  something  of  paternal  concern  in  their  attitude 
towards  him — the  hope  that  he  would  prove  equal 
to  the  reputation  of  his  name,  and  a  certain  indulgence 
for  his  inexperience,  and  a  certain  pride  in  him  should 
he  exhibit  unmistakable  ability. 

In  the  uneventful  life  of  the  plantation,  the  opportu- 
nity of  going  to  Jamestown  in  the  character  of  a  Bur- 
gess, no  doubt,  held  out  to  youthful  candidates  alluring 
prospects,  not  only  of  political  distinction,  but  also  of 
social  diversion,  a  combination  sure  to  make  success  in 
the  election  the  more  pleasing.  There  he  would  meet 
all  the  first  men  of  the  Colony;  there  form  friendships 
which  would  continue  during  the  rest  of  his  life ;  there 
pass  many  charming  hours  in  social  intercourse  as  well 
as  acquire  a  full  knowledge  of  public  affairs,  and  per- 
haps win  a  high  personal  standing  by  showing  industry 
in  committee,  and  talent  in  the  debates  on  the  floor. 

But  the  membership  of  the  House  of  Burgesses  was 
not  confined  to  young  men,  nor  even  to  men  who  had 
always  occupied  a  conspicuous  social  position  in  the 
Colony.  It  was  looked  upon  as  a  proper  reward  for  a 
successful  career,  however  humble  in  the  beginning 


426  Political  Condition 

that  career  may  have  been.  Throughout  the  century, 
there  sat  in  this  Chamber  a  number  of  persons  who  had 
started  in  Virginia  as  indentured  servants,  but  who,  by 
foresight  and  prudent  management  after  they  became 
freemen,  had  accumulated  comfortable  estates,  and 
won  the  highest  respect  of  their  neighbors.  In  the 
Assembly  of  1654,  there  seems  to  have  been  at  least 
three  members  whose  first  connection  with  the  Colony 
was  in  the  character  of  agricultural  laborers;  but  in 
their  case,  as  in  that  of  so  many  others,  this  may  have 
meant  that  they  had  bound  themselves  out  really  as 
agricultural  apprentices  to  learn  how  to  cultivate  to- 
bacco before  investing  money  of  their  own  in  the  pur- 
chase of  a  plantation.1  It  is  quite  probable,  however, 
that  some  of  the  Burgesses  who  had  begun  as  agricul- 
tural servants  had  begun  as  mere  laborers  dependent 
upon  their  own  efforts  alone  for  their  advancement; 
and  by  superior  intelligence,  unremitting  energy,  and  a 
fixed  determination,  had,  after  the  expiration  of  their 
terms,  raised  themselves  to  a  position  in  the  community 
entitling  them  to  election  to  an  office  of  so  much  influ- 
ence and  consideration.  The  great  body  of  the  member- 
ship of  the  House,  however,  was  composed  of  planters, 
who  had  either  inherited  their  property  in  the  Colony, 
or  had  come  over  from  England  with  sufficient  funds  to 
purchase  an  estate  at  once,  or  to  acquire  a  patent  by 
introducing  a  certain  number  of  new  settlers. 

What  was  the  territorial  basis  of  representation  ?  In 
the  first  Assembly  to  convene,  the  members  had  been 
chosen  by  boroughs,  which  embraced  at  least  three 

»  This  was  apparently  the  course  followed  by  Adam  Thorough- 
good  and  others.  Among  the  members,  in  1654,  who  had  been 
agricultural  servants  Were  Abram  Wood,  John  Trussell,  and  William 
Worlick;  see  Neill's  Va.  Carolorum,  p.  279. 


House  of  Burgesses :  Its  Membership     427 

cities  or  corporations,  namely  James  City,  Charles 
City,  and  the  City  of  Henricus;  three  Hundreds,  namely, 
Smythe's,  Martin's,  and  Fleur  de  Hundred;  and  five 
plantations  or  settlements.1  The  local  divisions  en- 
titled to  Burgesses  in  1629  included  the  "  plantation  at 
the  College,"  the  "Necke  of  Land,"  "  Shirley  Hundred 
Island,"  and  "  Henry  Throgmorton's  Plantation."2 
The  shire  system  was  introduced  in  1634,  and,  from 
this  time,  the  Burgess  represented  the  people  residing 
within  the  bounds  of  a  shire  instead  of,  as  before, 
representing  the  people  residing  within  the  bounds  of  a 
somewhat  vaguely  defined  settlement,  or  group  of 
plantations.  As  soon  as  the  population  of  a  shire  or 
county  became  so  large  that  it  was  found  necessary  to 
lay  off  its  area  into  two  parishes,  not  infrequently  each 
of  these  parishes  was  at  once  permitted  to  choose  a 
Burgess  of  its  own ;  but  in  an  instance  of  this  kind,  the 
limits  of  the  legislative  district  were  as  clearly  deter- 
mined as  if  the  county  as  a  whole  had  been  allowed  but 
one  member.3  One  reason  for  granting  to  a  parish  the 
right  of  electing  its  own  representative  apart  from  any 
consideration  of  the  number  of  its  inhabitants,  was  that 
its  particular  interests  very  often  demanded  a  special 
exponent  in  the  House  as  a  protection  against  serious 
encroachment,  or  as  a  means  of  promoting  some  par- 
ticular object.4 

As  the  number  of  Burgesses  were  ordered  in  a 
measure  by  the  number  of  inhabitants  found  in  the 
Colony,  that  number  increased  with  the  growth  of 

1  Minutes  of  Assembly,  1619,  p.  10,  Colonial  Records  of  Virginia, 
State  Senate  Doct.,  Extra,  1874. 

2  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  i.,  p.  138.  At  this  time,  the  expression 
in  use  for  the  local  divisions  was  "limitts. " 

3  Ibid.  pp.   250,   277,   520;  Randolph  MS.,  vol.  iii.,  p.   266. 
*  Randolph  MS.,  vol.  iii.,  p.  266. 


428  Political  Condition 

population.  In  1619,  there  were  twenty-two  members 
of  the  House;  in  1629,  before  the  formation  of  shires, 
forty- six;  in  1639,  exclusive  of  the  representatives  of 
James  City  county,  twenty-seven,  but  together  with 
the  representatives  of  that  county,  there  were  proba- 
bly thirty-two.1  At  this  time,  Charles  City,  Warwick 
River,  and  Isle  of  Wight  were  each  entitled  to  four 
members;  Henrico,  Charles  River,  and  Upper  Norfolk 
each  to  three;  and  the  remainder  of  the  shires,  omitting 
James  City,  to  two  respectively.  No  general  rules  so 
far  seem  to  have  been  applied  as  a  test  for  increasing 
or  diminishing  the  representation  of  a  county;  but,  in 
1639,  it  was  provided  that  no  county,  however  large 
and  populous,  should  send  more  than  four  members 
to  the  House.  Jamestown  was  not  embraced  in  James 
City  county  in  the  enforcement  of  this  regulation.2 
In  1652,  the  membership,  independently  of  Lancaster, 
numbered  thirty-five  Burgesses.  In  this  year,  the  rule 
having  been  now  changed,  James  City  was  represented 
by  six  (which  no  doubt  included  the  one  elected  by 
Jamestown),  Northampton  by  five,  and  Isle  of  Wight 
and  Lower  Norfolk  by  four  respectively.  With  the 
exception  of  Henrico,  the  remaining  counties  had 
respectively  two  representatives.  In  the  following 
year,  thirty-four  Burgesses  were  in  attendance.3 

These  slight  variations  would  seem  to  show  that  the 
reported  number  of  members  from  session  to  session 
about  this  time  fell  or  rose  in  accord  with  the  number 

»  Minutes  of  Assembly,  p.  10,  Colonial  Records  of  Virginia,  State 
Senate  Doct.,  Extra,  1874;  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  i.,  p.  138;  Robin- 
son Transcripts,  p.  192.  In  1645,  James  City  was  allowed  six 
members,  five  of  whom  represented  the  county  and  one  the  town ; 
Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  i.,  pp.  299-300. 

2  Ibid.,  vol.  i.,  pp.  299-300. 

3  Randolph  MS.,  vol.  iii.,  p.  245. 


House  of  Burgesses  :  Its  Membership     429 

actually  present  rather  than  with  the  number  who  had 
a  right  to  be.  After  the  Restoration,  there  was  a  dis- 
position to  restrict  the  number  of  Burgesses  in  order  to 
diminish  the  heavy  expense  entailed  by  the  Assembly. 
During  the  existence  of  the  Commonwealth,  owing  to 
the  almost  supreme  power  of  the  House,  the  tendency 
had  been  rather  toward  an  increase;  in  1660,  however, 
after  Berkeley  had  been  reinstated  in  the  Governorship, 
but  before  the  period  of  reactionary  extravagance  had 
had  time  to  set  in,  a  law  was  passed  limiting  the  number 
of  representatives  for  each  county  to  two.  Jamestown 
was  still  allowed  to  elect  a  Burgess  of  its  own.  As  an 
encouragement  to  promote  the  rapid  extension  of  the 
frontiers,  every  new  group  of  plantations  containing 
a  hundred  tithables  among  its  inhabitants  was  to  be 
permitted  to  send  a  representative  to  the  House.1 

A  large  number  of  parishes  had  taken  advantage  of 
the  right  granted  them  at  an  earlier  date  of  electing 
Burgesses  of  their  own;  and  the  charge  of  an  Assembly 
about  1662  was  so  much  augmented  by  this  fact  that, 
in  the  revised  Acts  of  that  year,  sharp  complaint  was 
made  of  the  expense  as  one  for  which  there  was  no  real 
necessity.2  So  great  was  this  charge  that  the  General 
Assembly  left  it  in  each  county's  discretion  to  choose 
one  or  two  Burgesses  to  represent  it  in  the  House.  This 
provision  evidently  received  the  popular  approval;  but, 
in  1669,  it  was  withdrawn,  on  the  ground  that  it  was 
likely  to  occasion  serious  injury  in  case  the  single  mem- 
ber was  engaged  with  committee  duties,  and,  therefore, 
unable  to  be  present  on  the  floor  of  the  Assembly  at  a 
moment  probably  when  the  debate  involved  some 
question  touching  the  welfare  of  his  own  county;  or 

»  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  ii.,  p.  20. 

2  Colonial  Entry  Book,  vol.  lxxxix.,  p.  34. 


43 o  Political  Condition 

perhaps  he  was  not  in  attendance  on  either  committee 
or  House,  owing  to  the  urgent  demands  of  a  private 
suit  in  the  General  Court;  or  it  may  be  that  he  was 
detained  at  home  by  sickness;  or  found  it  impossible 
to  represent  satisfactorily  the  conflicting  interests  of 
the  two  parishes  into  which  his  county  had  been 
divided. l  The  counties  apparently  did  not  think  that 
the  inconveniences  thus  caused  justified  them  in  choos- 
ing two  Burgesses  with  perfect  regularity;  and  some  of 
them  even  risked  subjection  to  the  fine  of  ten  thousand 
pounds  of  tobacco  imposed  by  the  House  for  every 
instance  of  neglect  to  send  up  two  members.2  The 
Long  Assembly  was  now  in  session,  and  the  electors 
probably  considered  it  to  their  real  advantage  to  re- 
frain from  filling  any  vacancies  which  had  occurred  in 
the  ranks  of  the  Burgesses;  for  it  was  only  vacancies 
that  they  were  now  called  upon  to  fill  at  all,  owing  to 
Berkeley's  settled  policy  of  retaining  the  existing  House 
indefinitely. 

*  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  ii.,  p.  272;  Colonial  Entry  Book,  vol. 
lxxxix.,  p.  92. 

2  In  1670,  Henrico  and  Middlesex  counties  were  both  fined. 
For  fine,  see  Revised  Acts,  1669-70,  British  Colonial  Papers;  also 
Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  ii.,  p.  282. 


CHAPTER  XXIII 
House  of  Burgesses  :  Frequency  of  Sessions 

IN  the  formal  regulations  which  Wyatt  brought  over 
in  1 62 1,  it  was  provided  that  the  Governor  should 
call  the  Assembly  together  at  first  once  a  year.1 
The  first  instructions  given  to  Berkeley  repeated  this 
injunction ;  and  he  was  also  authorized  to  summon  that 
body  even  twice  or  thrice  annually,  should  the  needs  of 
the  Colony  make  that  step  advisable.2  In  the  protest 
against  the  re-establishment  of  the  London  Company 
drawn  up  about  1642,  it  was  stated  that  the  happy 
condition  of  Virginia  under  the  Crown's  direct  admin- 
istration was  most  clearly  shown  by  the  "freedom  of 
yearly  Assemblies,' '  a  privilege  confirmed  and  recon- 
firmed by  the  royal  orders.3  During  the  Protectorate, 
the  rule  was  adopted  that  the  House  of  Burgesses  should 
meet  at  least  once  every  two  years,  and  even  oftener  if  . 
the  public  business  seemed  to  require  it4 ;  and  this  rule 
was  continued  by  the  Assembly  which,  in  1659-60, 
restored  Berkeley  to  his  old  position  as  the  Governor 
of  the  Colony.5     Writing  to  the  Council  of  Foreign 

«  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  i.,  pp.   1 10-13. 

2  Instructions  to  Berkeley,  Va.  Maga.  of  Hist,  and  Biog.,  vol.  ii., 
p.  282. 

3  Randolph  MS.,  vol.  iij.,  p.  237. 

«  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  i.,  p.  517.  !f 

s  Ibid.,  p.  531. 

43i 


432  Political  Condition 

Plantations  in  July,  1662,  Berkeley  declared  that 
Assemblies  met  once  every  twelve  months,  in  accord 
with  the  original  instructions  of  Charles  I,  to  "  inquire 
into  the  necessities  and  grievances  of  the  country."1 
It  is  possible  that  the  General  Assembly  had,  in  the 
short  interval  since  1660,  changed  the  previous  rule, 
but  it  is  more  probable  that  the  Governor  himself  had 
simply  taken  advantage  of  his  right  to  summon  the 
House  as  often  as  his  own  judgment  recommended. 

By  1662,  that  body  had,  by  new  elections,  become 
thoroughly  in  sympathy  with  the  spirit  of  the  English 
Reaction.  Only  eight  members  of  the  Assembly  of 
1659-60  were  also  members  of  the  Assembly  of  1662; 
and  of  these  eight,  only  five  succeeded  in  retaining  their 
seats  after  that  date.  The  Assembly  convening  for 
the  first  time  in  1662  was  prorogued  from  session  to 
session  until  it  had  sat  for  fourteen  years  without  a 
single  dissolution;  and  but  for  the  great  commotion 
culminating  in  the  Insurrection  of  1676,  would  prob- 
ably have  remained  undissolved  until  Berkeley's  death, 
or  at  least  until  he  had  finally  vacated  the  office  of 
Governor.  The  contemporary  Parliament  in  London 
sat  for  a  period  of  eighteen  years;  and  the  Long 
Assembly  would  have  reached  the  same  length  of  life, 
perhaps  have  lasted  even  longer,  but  for  the  violent 
circumstances  which  arose  to  shorten  its  existence.2 
Berkeley  looking  across  the  ocean  to  England  might 
well  have  thought  that  he  was  doing  only  what  was 
proper  in  the  eyes  of  the  King's  faithful  subjects  by 
imitating  the  royal  example  in  holding  together  indef- 
initely a  legislature  of  such  proved  loyalty;  but  he  was 

1  British  Colonial  Papers,  vol.  xvi.,  No.  78. 

2  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  i.,  pp.  386-7,  526,  530;  vol.  ii.,  pp.  197, 
250;  Bancroft's  History  of  the  United  States,  pp.  197,  206. 


Frequency  of  Sessions  433 

to  find,  to  his  ultimate  cost,  that  the  remoteness  of  the 
Virginian  plantations  had  bred  in  the  people  a  spirit 
of  impatience  with  abuses  equal  to  that  spirit  which 
had  brought  on  the  English  Civil  War;  and  that  the 
royalist  reaction  in  the  Colony  had  not  gone  so  far  as 
to  make  every  section  of  the  citizens  submissive  to 
official  wrongs.  There  was  a  touch  of  true  pathos  in 
the  Declaration  presented  by  the  people  of  Stafford 
county  in  1677: — "We  find  ourselves  very  much 
oppressed  through  these  annual  Assemblies,  and  do 
humbly  conceive  that,  were  they  triennial  and  new 
elections,  our  burden  might  be  lessened,  and  we  al- 
together furnished  with  good  laws"1;  and  the  same 
complaint  was  re-echoed  in  the  Declaration  of  the  peo- 
ple of  James  City  county  made  in  the  course  of  the 
same  year.  Having  carefully  considered  all  the  protests 
offered  by  the  different  counties,  the  English  Com- 
missioners, in  1677,  recommended  to  the  English 
Government  the  adoption  of  a  regulation  requiring  the 
election  of  a  new  House  of  Burgesses  at  least  once 
every  two  years.2 

At  the  end  of  the  century,  Beverley  asserted  that 
"  there  was  no  appointed  time  for  the  meeting  of  the 
Assembly,"  but  that  "it  was  called  together  whenever 
the  exigencies  of  the  country  made  it  necessary,  or  the 
King  was  pleased  to  order  anything  to  be  proposed  by 
them.  3  It  does  not  follow  from  this  statement  of  the 
historian  that  the  law  prescribing  that  a  new  House 
should  be  elected  once  in  every  two  years  was  not  in 
force.     He  was  perhaps  referring  merely  to  the  date 

1  Grievances  of  People  of  Stafford  County,  Winder  Papers,  vol. 
ii.,  p.  236. 

2  Winder  Papers,  vol.  ii.,  p.  149. 

3  Beverley's  History  of  Virginia,  p.  191. 


434  Political  Condition 

of  its  meeting,  which  rested  now,  as  in  the  past,  in  the 
Governor's  discretion.  It  seems  to  have  been  the  rule 
during  the  closing  decade  of  the  century,  as  during  the 
greater  part  of  that  whole  period,  for  the  Assembly  to 
convene  in  February  and  March  as  months  coming  in 
between  two  tobacco  crops,  when  the  demands  upon  the 
planters'  attention  at  home  were  the  least  pressing  of 
the  twelve  months,  a  fact  allowing  them  to  absent 
themselves  more  conveniently  at  that  season  than  at 
any  other. 


CHAPTER  XXIV 
House  of  Burgesses  :  Remuneration 

ONE  of  the  few  notable  changes  in  English  custom 
observed  in  the  Colony  was  to  be  found  in  the 
fact  that  the  members  of  the  House  of  Burgesses, 
unlike  the  members  of  the  House  of  Commons,  received 
sufficient  remuneration  to  meet  their  expenses.  When 
the  Assembly  was  first  established,  and  for  many 
decades  following  that  event,  there  was  but  little 
wealth,  in  the  modern  sense  of  the  word,  in  Virginia. 
In  England,  the  members  of  Parliament  were  drawn, 
not  only  from  the  highest  social  class,  but  also  from 
the  richest;  so  it  was  in  Virginia,  too;  but  the  richest 
class  in  the  Colony,  especially  in  the  earlier  years  of 
its  history,  being  as  a  mass  comparatively  poor,  were 
indisposed  to  undertake  a  costly  public  duty  without 
some  pecuniary  return  for  the  actual  outlay  it  made 
necessary.  So  far  as  the  surviving  records  show,  there 
is  no  indication  whether  or  not  the  members  of  the 
House  convening  in  1619  were  recouped  for  their 
expenses.  Many  years  after  this  (in  1636),  the  in- 
habitants of  each  county  were  strictly  enjoined  by 
an  Act  of  Assembly  to  defray  all  the  charges  incurred 
by  their  Burgesses;  from  which  it  is  to  be  inferred  that, 
during  these  early  decades,  the  only  aim  was  to  reim- 
burse the  representative  for  what  his  office  had  com- 

435 


436  Political  Condition 

pelled  him  to  pay  out  of  his  own  pocket,  and  not  really 
to  reward  him,  as  in  the  present  era,  for  the  performance 
of  legislative  services.1  This  view  was  reserved  for 
a  later  period,  when  it  had  come  to  be  thought  that 
the  Burgess  deserved  something  more  than  a  sum  equal 
to  the  amount  of  his  actual  expenses;  although  it  is 
probable  that,  in  theory  at  least,  he  never  received 
a  salary  supposed  to  greatly  exceed  the  cost  of  his 
journey  to  and  from  Jamestown,  and  the  cost  of  his 
sojourn  there  while  in  attendance  on  the  Assembly. 
As  each  county  was  held  responsible  for  the  payment 
of  its  own  Burgesses'  expenses,  a  fund  to  be  devoted 
to  this  purpose  had  to  be  periodically  raised ;  as  a  matter 
of  convenience,  this  was  generally  done  at  the  time 
of  the  ordinary  levy;  but  occasionally,  especially  dur- 
ing the  earlier  part  of  the  century,  it  seems  to  have 
been  collected  as  a  separate  tax;  for  instance,  in  1638, 
the  justices  of  Lower  Norfolk  required  the  sheriff 
to  obtain  from  every  tithable  in  the  county,  or  the 
owner  of  such  tithable,  the  sum  of  ten  pounds  of  to- 
bacco, for  delivery  to  Capt.  John  Sibsey,  and  Robert 
Hayes,  the  two  citizens  who  had  served  as  Burgesses 
in  the  last  Assembly.  In  March,  1639-40,  the  levy 
for  the  same  purpose  amounted  to  twenty- three  pounds 
of  tobacco  per  poll.  In  the  following  year,  the  two 
Burgesses  having  presented  a  partial  statement  of 
their  expenses  during  the  previous  session  of  the 
House,  a  levy  of  two  pounds  of  tobacco  per  poll  was 
ordered  to  be  laid  with  the  object  of  recouping  them 
for  their  outlay.2  It  is  evident  from  the  variations 
in  the  amount  received  by  the  Burgesses  of  Lower 

*  Robinson  Transcripts,  p.  228. 

2  Lower  Norfolk  County  Records,  Orders  Nov.  21,  1638;  Orders 
March  17,  1639-40,  March  15,  1 640-1. 


House  of  Burgesses  :  Remuneration  437 

Norfolk  during  these  three  years  that  the  idea  in  mak- 
ing an  assessment  for  their  benefit  was  to  reimburse 
them  for  all  the  costs  of  performing  the  duties  of  their 
office,  but  not  to  reward  them  for  their  services. 

In  the  course  of  1641,  the  justices  of  Accomac  com- 
pensated William  Burdett  and  John  Neale  for  their 
"  paines  and  care  "  by  requiring  every  tithable  person  in 
the  county  to  perform  half  a  day's  labor  in  the  fields 
of  these  two  Burgesses;  and  if  unable  for  any  reason 
to  do  this,  to  pay  them  ten  pounds  of  tobacco.1  A 
few  years  later,  it  was  specially  provided  by  an  Act 
of  Assembly  that,  in  every  case  in  which  a  member 
of  the  House  was  compelled  to  take  his  servants  to 
Jamestown  during  a  session  of  that  body,  the  tithables 
of  the  county  were  to  join  in  working  his  crops  for 
a  certain  number  of  days,  so  that  he  should  not  suffer 
from  the  enforced  absence  of  his  own  laborers.2  This 
benefit  was,  no  doubt,  designed  to  be  merely  addi- 
tional to  the  payment  of  his  necessary  expenses,  but 
it  was  one  greatly  valued  in  a  community  so  purely 
agricultural.3 

The  bill  of  particulars  presented  by  the  Burgesses 
of  Lower  Norfolk  county  in  1641  throws  light  on  the 
details  of  a  representative's  expenses  at  this  time. 
These  expenses  consisted,  in  the  way  of  victual,  of 
four  hogs,  twenty  pounds  of  butter,  and  two  bushels 
of  peas;  and  in  the  way  of  liquor,  of  one  hogshead  of 
beer  and  one  case  of  strong  spirits.  In  addition,  there 
was  a  claim  for  the  wages  of  the  cook  who  had  dressed 

1  Accomac  County  Records,  vol.  1640-5,  p.  61,  Va.  St.  Libr. 

2  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  i.,  p.  267. 

3  The  records  show  that  the  right  granted  by  the  statute  was 
taken  advantage  of;  see  Northampton  County  Records,  Orders 
April  28,  1643. 


438  Political  Condition 

their  food.  It  is  to  be  inferred  from  these  several 
entries  that  the  two  Burgesses  had  established  them- 
selves in  their  own  lodgings  at  Jamestown.  A  claim 
was  also  made  for  the  hire  of  servants,  employed 
doubtless  in  rowing  the  Burgesses  up  James  River, 
or  in  managing  their  sloop  in  the  course  of  the  voyage. 
The  outlay  on  these  different  accounts  was  estimated 
at  a  very  large  amount  of  tobacco.1 

About  six  years  later,  the  annual  levy  for  the  same 
county  embraced  the  particulars  of  the  Burgesses' 
charges  at  that  time,  which  show  little  variation  from 
those  of  1 641.  The  principal  charges  were  designed 
to  cover  the  cost  of  hiring  a  boat  for  the  voyage  to 
Jamestown,  and  also  of  providing  bread  and  meat  for 
the  men  engaged  as  rowers,  as  well  as  board  and  lodging 
for  the  representatives  themselves  during  the  session 
of  the  Assembly,  and  for  the  servant  who  was  in  their 
daily  employment.  The  general  outlay  for  these 
several  purposes  combined  was  calculated  to  be  about 
four  thousand  pounds  of  tobacco,  which,  rated  at  one 
penny  and  a  half  a  pound,  brought  the  entire  cost  to 
twenty-five  pounds  sterling,  or  five  hundred  dollars 
in  present  values.  In  1647,  the  expenditure  for  boat 
and  sloop  and  for  the  wages  and  maintenance  of  the 
men  in  charge,  and  also  for  lodgings  and  provisions 
at  Jamestown  for  the  Burgesses  themselves  and  their 
servant,  was  estimated  at  figures  ranging  between  sixty- 
three  hundred  and  seven  thousand  pounds  of  tobacco, 
or  about  thirty- seven  pounds  sterling,  which  then  had 
a  purchasing  power  of  seven  hundred  and  fifty  dollars.2 

These  particulars  recorded  in  Lower  Norfolk  repre- 
sent  the   average    charges    borne   on   its    Burgesses' 

1  Lower  Norfolk  County  Records,  Orders  March  15,  1 640-1. 

2  Ibid.,  vol.  1646-51,  pp.  8,  55. 


House  of  Burgesses :  Remuneration  439 

account,  previous  to  the  middle  of  the  century,  by 
each  county  situated  at  the  same  distance  from  James- 
town. The  burden  was  far  from  a  light  one  in  these 
early  years  when  the  volume  of  wealth  was  still  small; 
and  it  seems  to  have  increased  rather  than  diminished 
from  this  time1;  for  instance,  about  the  year  1659,  the 
county  of  Lancaster  was  required  to  pay  in  settlement 
of  the  expenses  of  Colonel  John  Carter  and  Peter 
Montague,  the  Burgesses  representing  its  people  at 
that  date,  a  sum  closely  approximating  ten  thousand 
pounds  of  tobacco,  and  equal  to  at  least  one  thousand 
dollars  in  purchasing  value.2  This  was  probably  the 
average  expenditure  then  imposed  in  all  the  counties 
so  remotely  situated  from  the  Colony's  capital  as  those 
of  the  Northern  Neck. 

At  the  session  of  the  Assembly  held  in  1 660-1,  a 
definite  sum  seems  to  have  been,  for  the  first  time, 
granted  to  the  Burgess,  which  was  designated  as  his 
wages  or  salary.  By  the  Act  then  passed,  it  was 
provided  that  each  member  of  the  House  should, 
while  in  attendance,  receive  one  hundred  and  fifty 
pounds  of  tobacco  a  day,  and,  in  addition,  be  paid 
such  an  amount  as  Would  cover  all  his  expenses  in 
going  to  and  coming  from  Jamestown.  The  reason 
given  for  remunerating  each  representative  with  an 
exact  sum  was  that  the  bills  of  particulars  hitherto 
presented  to  the  counties  by  their  Burgesses,  with  a 

»  So  great  was  the  charge  that  the  General  Assembly  sometime 
previous  to  1657-8  sought  to  get  rid  of  it  entirely  by  appropriating 
for  the  Burgesses'  expenses  the  fund  collected  by  the  imposition 
of  a  tax  of  two  shillings  on  each  hogshead  exported.  In  1657-8, 
the  continuation  of  this  regulation  was  found  impracticable,  and 
the  burden  was  again  assumed,  certainly  for  that  year,  by  the  coun- 
ties; see  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  i.,  p.  493. 

2  Lancaster  County  Records,  vol.  1656-66,  p.  60. 


440  Political  Condition 

view  to  an  allowance  in  the  public  levy,  had,  in  some 
instances,  caused  very  great  criticism  on  account  of 
the  apparent  extravagance  of  the  items,  and  that  so 
many  persons  were  thereby  induced  to  offer  themselves 
as  candidates  with  the  promise  of  filling  the  position 
with  far  less  expense  to  the  taxpayers,  that  the  office 
of  Burgess  was  now  in  great  danger  of  becoming 
mercenary  and  contemptible.1 

Thus  was  established  a  system  of  remuneration  for 
Burgesses  which  was  never  afterwards  altered.  Carried 
out  in  an  honest  spirit,  that  system,  even  in  these  early 
times,  was  the  proper  one,  but  unfortunately  it  opened 
the  door  to  serious  abuses.  So  long  as  the  Burgess' 
expenditures  were  presented  to  the  county  court 
periodically  for  consideration,  there  was  always  an 
opportunity  of  correcting  any  error  or  extravagance. 
On  the  other  hand,  when  the  precedent  had  been  set 
of  paying  the  representative  a  fixed  sum,  it  was  in  the 
power  of  any  greedy  and  self-seeking  Assembly  to 
increase  that  amount  at  any  time  they  pleased;  and 
even  when  they  did  not  have  the  boldness  to  do  this 
permanently,  they  were  able  to  vote  specific  sums  for 
their  own  benefit.2 

In  the  meanwhile,  the  extra  expenses  to  be  provided 
for  by  the  county  on  its  Burgess'  account  remained  as 
great  as  ever.  In  1665,  when  the  Long  Assembly  was 
entering  upon  its  notorious  career,  it  enacted  that 
all  debts  which  that  officer  ran  into  in  the  public  service 
should  be  paid  by  the  county  he  represented.3     This 

1  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  ii.,  p.  23. 

2  It  was  stated  in  the  Grievances  of  Surry  County  presented  in 
1677  that  the  Long  Assembly  had  given  "several  gentlemen  large 
sums  of  tobacco  which  raised  the  levy  to  an  excessive  height"; 
see  Winder  Papers,  vol.  ii.,  p.  160. 

3  Robinson  Transcripts,  p.  250. 


House  of  Burgesses  :  Remuneration  441 

measure  was  designed  to  extend  even  to  expenses 
which,  at  this  day,  seem  to  have  been  incurred  by  a 
member  with  the  idea  merely  of  maintaining  his 
personal  dignity;  for  instance,  in  1673,  it  was  formally 
declared  that  each  county  must  meet  all  the  costs 
entailed  upon  its  Burgess  in  taking  two  horses  with 
him  to  Jamestown,  one  for  his  own  use,  the  other  for 
the  use  of  his  servant.1  If  there  were  two  represen- 
tatives, the  expenditure  was  doubled  by  the  presence 
of  four  horses  to  be  provided  for.  The  levy  for  Lancas- 
ter county  in  December,  1673,  shows  how  heavy  was 
the  burden  of  these  extra  charges : — in  addition  to  the 
regular  salary  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  pounds  of 
tobacco  a  day  received  by  its  Burgess  during  the  session 
of  the  Assembly  for  that  year,  he  was  allowed 
seven  hundred  and  twenty-five  pounds  for  his  atten- 
dant, at  the  rate  of  twenty-five  pounds  a  day;  eight 
hundred  pounds  for  his  two  horses  during  the 
journey  to  and  from  Jamestown;  and  eight  hundred 
and  seventy  pounds  during  the  time  they  were 
quartered  there.  These  several  expenses  reached 
a  total  of  twenty-five  hundred  pounds  of  tobacco, 
nearly  one  half  of  the  fixed  amount  granted  a  member 
for  his  services.  The  entire  sum  represented  an  outlay 
to  the  county  of  two  hundred  and  thirty-four  pounds 
of  tobacco  a  day  during  the  session  of  this  Assembly, 
a  charge  equal  at  the  lowest  to  twenty-five  dollars  a 
day  as  calculated  in  modern  values.2  The  session  of 
1673  lasted  twenty-nine  days,  which  was  probably 
below  the  average  length  at  this  time.  From  the  bur- 
den imposed  on  this  one  county  alone,  it  can  be  seen 
how  powerful  an  influence  the  excessive  charges  for 

»  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  ii.,  p.  307. 

2  Lancaster  County  Records,  Levy  Dec.  10,  1673. 


442  Political  Condition 

Burgesses  (embracing  their  salaries  as  well  as  certain 
of  their  ordinary  expenses)  exercised  in  precipitating 
the  Insurrection  of  1676.  In  this  single  year,  Lancas- 
ter was  probably  called  on  to  pay  not  less  than  twelve 
thousand  pounds  of  tobacco  on  account  of  its  two 
Burgesses.  The  charges  in  Lower  Norfolk  for  1673 
amounted  to  nine  thousand,  five  hundred  and  fifty 
pounds;  and  in  1674,  to  ten  thousand,  seven  hundred.1 
There  is  no  reason  to  think  that  the  average  expendi- 
ture fell  below  this  in  the  other  counties. 

In  theory,  the  fixed  salary  was  still  gauged  by  the 
actual  expenses  which  the  Burgess  was  compelled 
to  incur  on  his  own  account  during  his  stay  at  James- 
town. These  appear  to  have  been  extraordinarily 
high.  The  English  Commissioners,  Morryson,  Berry, 
and  Jeffreys,  declared  in  a  letter  dated  February, 
1676-7,  that  one  of  the  excuses  offered  for  the  high 
salaries  of  the  Burgesses  previous  to  the  Insurrection 
was  the  exorbitant  charge  made  by  the  innkeepers 
at  Jamestown  for  all  kinds  of  liquors,  a  course  which 
they  were  probably  tempted  to  pursue  by  the  fact 
that  the  members  of  the  General  Court  and  of  the 
House,  together  with  the  visitors  in  attendance  during 
the  sessions  of  those  bodies,  formed  the  great  bulk 
of  their  customers.  The  Commissioners  urged  that  the 
Assembly  should  insist  that  the  prices  prevailing  at 
the  inns  should  be  materially  lowered,  as  that  would 
be  the  first  step  towards  the  reduction  of  the  amount 
then  granted  to  each  Burgess  for  actual  services.2 
This  recommendation  seems  to  have  made  the  desired 
impression,  for,  not  very  long  afterwards,  the  Burgess' 
salary  was  cut  down  to  one  hundred  and   twenty 

»  Lower  Norfolk  County  Levies,  Nov.  22,  1673,  Oct.  22,  1674. 
2  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1766-7,  p.  no. 


House  of  Burgesses:  Remuneration  443 

pounds  of  tobacco  a  day,  a  curtailment  of  thirty- 
pounds.  Payment,  however,  was  to  begin  two  days 
before  the  House  assembled,  and  was  to  continue 
two  days  after  it  had  adjourned.  The  preamble 
of  this  Act  admits  that  the  former  allowance  had  occa- 
sioned very  serious  complaint.  A  special  sum  was  now 
granted  in  addition  to  defray  the  charges  of  the  journey 
to  and  from  Jamestown.  In  the  case  of  the  represen- 
tatives from  the  Eastern  Shore,  this  amounted  to 
sixty  pounds  of  tobacco  a  day,  as  it  was  necessary  for 
them  to  hire  a  sloop  and  to  engage  at  least  two  men 
to  sail  it.  When  a  Burgess  was  from  a  county  situated 
on  one  of  the  great  rivers,  he  was  allowed  thirty-six 
pounds  a  day  to  meet  the  cost  of  a  boat,  whilst  the 
members  who  came  on  horseback  were  to  receive  only 
ten  pounds  for  the  same  length  of  time.  This  Act 
seems  to  have  continued  in  force  until  the  end  of  the 
century  1 

In  spite  of  the  general  change  for  the  better  which 
this  law  introduced,  the  costs  imposed  on  each  county 
on  account  of  its  representatives  in  the  House  remained 
a  serious  public  burden.  In  Middlesex,  for  instance, 
the  levies  for  1677  show  that  its  citizens  were  com- 
pelled in  that  year  alone,  owing  to  the  Assembly 
having  met  twice  in  the  course  of  twelve  months,  to 
raise  for  the  payment  of  the  salaries  and  expenses  of 
their  two  Burgesses  the  sum  of  twenty-five  thousand 
pounds  of  tobacco.2  In  1679,  Col.  William  Byrd  and 
his  associate  received  seventy-five  hundred  pounds  for 
their  attendance  at  the  last  session  of  the  House;  in 

»  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  ii.,  p.  398;  Present  State  of  Virginia, 
1697-8,  section  vi.;  Colonial  Entry  Book,  Acts  of  1676-7;  see  also 
vol.  1676-81,  p.  163;  Winder  Papers,  vol.  ii.,  p.  149. 

2  Middlesex  County  Records,  vol.  1673-80,  folio  p.  84. 


444  Political  Condition 

1680,  Byrd  separately  received  this  large  amount. 
Four  years  later,  William  Randolph,  who  was  now 
filling  the  same  office,  was,  by  the  same  county  court, 
allowed  fifty- three  hundred  pounds,  and  John  Farrar, 
fifty-five  hundred,  whilst,  in  the  following  year,  Ran- 
dolph was  allowed  about  sixty-one  hundred  pounds. 
These  sums  were  used  for  the  payment,  not  only  of 
the  two  Burgesses'  salaries,  but  also  of  all  the  expenses 
they  had  incurred  for  boats  and  rowers,  and  also  for 
ferry  age  for  their  horses,  and  pasturage  for  them  at 
Jamestown.1  In  Northumberland,  in  1684,  Peter 
Pressley  was  the  recipient  of  twelve  thousand  pounds 
of  tobacco,  and  Colonel  Peter  Knight  of  eleven  thou- 
sand; in  1688,  the  total  charge  in  this  county  for  each 
Burgess  came  to  sixty- three  hundred  pounds;  in  1691, 
to  ninety-nine  hundred;  and  in  1697,  to  five  thousand. 
In  all  these  cases,  the  variations  in  the  annual  amounts 
disbursed  were  attributable  to  differences  in  the 
length  of  the  several  sessions  of  the  Assembly.2  In 
Elizabeth  City  county,  in  1693,  Capt.  Anthony  Armi- 
stead  received  for  his  services  and  expenses  as  a  member 
of  the  House,  the  sum  of  sixty-two  hundred  pounds 
of   tobacco3;    in  Essex,  in  1692,  Henry  Awbrey  and 

1  Henrico  County  Records,  Levies,  Dec.  23,  1679,  Oct.  20,  1680; 
also  vol.  1677-92,  orig.  pp.  288,  340.  The  following  entries  in 
Henrico  County  Levy  for  1 694  shows  the  number  of  men  employed 
in  the  Burgesses'  journeys  to  Jamestown  by  boat: 

"To  William  Arrington  for  8  Dayes  rowing  down  the  Burgesses 
in  winter  86  lbs.  of  tobacco.  To  John  Adkins  for  6  days  p.  ditto 
sixty-five  pounds.  To  Edmund  Tylman  for  8  days  p.  ditto  eighty- 
six  pounds.  To  Thomas  Howel  for  seven  days  p.  ditto  seventy-five 
pounds  of  tobacco.  To  Philip  Pursell  12  days  p.  ditto  one  hundred 
and  twenty-nine  pounds  of  tobacco. ' '  Henrico  County  Records,  vol. 
1688-97,  p.  523,  Va.  St.  Libr. 

2  See  Northumberland  County  Records,  Levies  beginning  Sept. 
17,  1684. 

3  Elizabeth  City  County  Records,  Orders  Dec.  5,  1693. 


House  of  Burgesses :  Remuneration  445 

William  Colston  received  respectively  eight  thousand 
pounds;  and  in  1695,  each  of  the  two  Burgesses,  fifty- 
one  hundred.1  In  1693,  when  Lancaster  was  repre- 
sented by  three  members,  the  assessment  for  their 
benefit  in  the  regular  levy  amounted  in  the  aggregate 
for  salaries  alone  to  fifteen  thousand,  four  hundred, 
and  eighty  pounds  of  tobacco;  and  in  addition,  they 
were  paid  two  thousand  pounds  for  the  expenses  of 
their  servants,  about  thirteen  hundred  for  ferryage 
fees,  and  twenty-one  hundred  for  the  maintenance 
of  their  horses.  The  total  charge  imposed  on  the 
county  was  estimated  at  twenty-one  thousand  pounds 
of  tobacco,  which  at  a  low  rate  of  valuation  for  that 
commodity  signified  an  outlay  of  twenty-five  hundred 
dollars  in  modern  figures.2 

Nor  did  these  payments  for  salary  and  expenses 
complete  the  advantages  incidental  to  the  office  of 
Burgess;  he  enjoyed  certain  special  privileges  which 
added  materially  to  the  benefits  he  received  from  the 
position.  As  early  as  1623,  it  was  provided  that 
every  member  of  the  House  should,  during  the  progress 
of  the  session,  be  exempt  from  arrest  at  the  instance 
of  a  creditor;  and  this  right  was  to  come  into  operation 
at  least  seven  days  before  the  Assembly  convened, 
and  was  to  last  at  least  a  week  after  it  had  adjourned. 
The  object  of  this  regulation  was  to  afford  the  represen- 
tative assurance  of  perfect  freedom  in  going  to  and 
returning  from  Jamestown.  If  a  creditor  attempted 
to  stop  his  passage,  it  worked  an  immediate  forfeiture 
of  the  debt;  and  the  sheriff,  who,  by  the  creditor's 
order,  had  served  the  warrant,  rendered  himself 
liable  to  punishment.     The  Burgess'  first  duty  was  to 

1  Essex  County  Records,  Orders  Nov.  12,  1692,  Nov.  n,  1695. 
3  Lancaster  County  Records,  Levy  Dec.  14,  1693. 


446  Political  Condition 

perform  the  public  service  expected  of  him,  and  who- 
ever for  any  cause  whatever  made  it  impossible  for 
him  to  do  this,  inflicted  an  injury  on  the  public  welfare 
deemed  intolerable.  This  law,  which  had  its  origin 
in  practical  expediency,  was  re-enacted  in  163 1.1 

It  was  declared,  about  twelve  years  later,  to  be 
illegal  for  any  member  of  the  House  to  be  arrested  in 
the  interval  between  the  date  of  his  election  and  the 
end  of  the  first  ten  days  following  the  dissolution  of  the 
Assembly.  The  privileged  period  was  thus  very  much 
extended.  It  is  to  be  observed  that  the  word  "disso- 
lution" is  used  in  this  Act,  from  which  it  is  to  be  in- 
ferred that,  in  all  those  cases  in  which  the  House  was 
simply  prorogued,  a  not  infrequent  event,  the  exemp- 
tion from  arrest  continued  even  during  the  time  the 
members  were  at  home.  This  conclusion  is  confirmed 
by  the  action  of  the  Burgesses  in  1659-60  in  adopting 
a  resolution  that  they  would  not  claim  the  privilege 
during  the  "adjournment  of  the  present  session," 
but  after  the  termination  of  the  usual  ten  days  would 
submit  to  any  judgment  or  execution  against  their 
estates,  provided  that  no  attempt  was  made  to  inter- 
fere with  their  personal  freedom.2 

In  1662,  when  the  Long  Assembly  was  as  yet  in  its 
infancy,  this  law  was  again  enacted,  and  its  scope  was 
extended  to  the  servants  of  the  Burgesses  also.  There 
was  a  further  modification  in  the  terms  of  the  original 
Act  by  the  new  provision  that,  if  the  period  of  adjourn- 
ment was  to  be  prolonged  beyond  a  month,  the  right  of 
exemption  from  arrest  was  to  be  suspended  between 
sessions  as  soon  as  thirty  days  had  passed  since  the 

»  Acts  of  1623,  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  i.,  p.  125;  Randolph  MS., 
'vol.  iii.,  p.  218. 

2  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  i.,  pp.  263,  444,  550. 


House  of  Burgesses:  Remuneration  447 

last  session  had  come  to*  an  end.  Should  a  suit  in- 
stituted against  a  Burgess  in  this  interval  be  successful, 
then  execution  against  his  estate  could  not  be  pressed 
during  the  ten  days  preceding  the  meeting  of  the  next 
Assembly,  or  during  the  session  itself,  or  during  the 
first  ten  days  immediately  following  its  termination.1 
This  law  was  in  operation  in  1676;  and  an  incident 
occurring  in  "nat  year  showed  that  it  could  not  be 
violated  witfi  impunity.  While  Nathaniel  Bacon, 
accompanied  by  forty  persons,  was  making  the  voyage 
down  James  River  in  order  to  take  his  seat  in  the  house, 
he  was  arrested  by  Captain  Thomas  Gardiner,  of  the 
Adam  and  Eve,  acting  under  instructions  received  from 
Governor  Berkeley  himself,  and  the  young  tribune 
and  his  whole  band  of  supporters  were  brought  to 
Jamestown  as  close  prisoners.  Bacon  was  promptly 
released,  and  for  this  violation  of  his  privilege  as  a 
Burgess,  as  well  as  for  injuries  done  his  sloop  and  its 
contents,  Gardiner  was  compelled  to  pay  a  fine  of 
seventy  pounds  sterling,  equivalent  in  purchasing 
power  to  about  fifteen  hundred  dollars  at  the  present 
day;  and  he  was  also  forced  to  submit  to  the  humili- 
ation of  offering  in  public  a  full  apology  for  the  out- 
rage on  the  fiery  young  leader,  a  requirement  which 
must  have  cut  Berkeley  to  the  quick  as  the  person 
really  responsible  for  the  arrest.2 

A  characteristic  instance  of  the  Burgess*  right  to 
claim  exemption  from  all  legal  process  within  a  certain 
interval  of  time  occurred  in  Westmoreland  in  1699: — 
in  the  course  of  this  year,  the  sheriff  of  that  county 
issued  an  attachment  against  two  negro  children,  the 
property  of  Gawin  Corbin,  a  member  of  the  House, 

1  Revised  Laws,  1662,  Colonial  Entry  Book,  vol.  lxxxix.,  p.  34. 

2  Colonial  Entry  Book,  vol.  lxxx.,  No.  519,  II. 


448  Political  Condition 

which  seems  to  have  been  in  session  at  the  time;  this 
was  promptly  pronounced  by  that  body  to  be  a  breach 
of  privilege;  and  a  special  messenger  was  dispatched 
to  the  justices  of  the  county  to  inform  them  of  the 
House's  resolution  to  that  effect.  Not  satisfied  with 
this  declaration,  the  Assembly  instructed  the  messenger 
to  arrest  the  sheriff  for  his  illegal  act\  and  should  he 
decline  to  pay  a  fine  of  three  pounds  staling,  to  escort 
him  to  Jamestown  to  answer  to  the  Assembly  itself.1 
The  Burgess  was  invested  with  so  much  sacredness 
that  it  was  considered  to  be  as  serious  an  offence  to 
speak  of  him  disrespectfully  or  scandalously  as  of  the 
Governor  or  the  members  of  the  Council.  "You  are 
one  of  our  Burgesses  with  a  pox,"  Thomas  Fowlkes 
remarked  angrily  and  sneeringly  to  Hugh  Yeo,  a  repre- 
sentative from  Accomac  county  in  1666;  and  then 
added :  ' '  You  go  to  Jamestown,  and  sett  there,  and  sayes 
nothing,  and  comes  back  like  a  f  oole. ' '  These  words  were 
declared  to  be  highly  derogatory  to  the  general  repu- 
tation of  Yeo  as  a  member  of  the  House,  and  Fowlkes 
had  to  suffer  in  consequence.2  An  insult  offered  to 
the  Assembly  as  a  whole  was  resented  with  even 
greater  bitterness.  Edward  Prescott  was,  in  1660, 
summarily  committed  to  prison  for  such  an  offence.3 
When  Giles  Bland,  in  his  rage  over  Philip  Ludwell's 
failure  to  keep  an  appointment  to  fight  a  duel  with 
him,  nailed  his  glove,  by  way  of  defiance,  to  the  door 
of  the  Assembly's  hall,  Ludwell  being  a  Burgess  at 
this  time,  that  body  considered  his  conduct  such  a 
flagrant  outrage  on  their  dignity  that  they  fined  him 
one  hundred  pounds  sterling;  and,  in  addition,  required 

1  Minutes  of  Assembly,  May  23,  1699,  B.  T.  Va.,  vol.  Hi. 

2  Accomac  County  Records,  vol.  1666-70,  folio  p.  13. 

3  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  ii.,  p.  15. 


House  of  Burgesses :  Remuneration  449 

him  to  make  his  submission  before  them,  which,  we  are 
told,  he  did  with  a  proud  and  haughty  air.1  In  1693, 
Thomas  Rooke,  for  speaking  abusively  of  the  same 
body,  and  even  more  opprobriously  of  Mr.  Kemp,  one 
of  its  members,  was  sentenced  to  acknowledge  the 
heinousness  of  his  offence  on  his  knees  in  the  Assembly 
chamber,  and  in  that  humiliating  attitude  to  beg  the 
Assembly's  pardon  as  well  as  that  of  Mr.  Kemp;  and 
at  the  conclusion  of  this  performance,  he  was  delivered 
into  the  custody  of  the  messenger,  who  received  orders 
to  detain  him  until  the  House  saw  fit  to  release  him.2 

1  British  Colonial  Papers,  vol.  xxxvii.,  p.  46. 

2  Minutes  of  Assembly,   Nov.   2,    1693,   Colonial  Entry  Book, 
1682-95. 

VOL.  11 — 29 


CHAPTER  XXV 
House  of  Burgesses  :    Place  of  Meeting 

DURING  the  whole  course  of  the  Seventeenth 
century,  the  sessions  of  the  General  Assembly, 
unlike  the  terms  of  the  General  Court,  seem  to 
have  been  held  at  or  near  Jamestown.  There  is  no  rec- 
ord of  the  members  of  that  body  having,  during  that 
interval,  convened  elsewhere  except  on  a  single  occasion ; 
indeed,  even  if  there  had  been  any  strong  reason  for 
their  doing  so,  it  would  have  been  found  practically 
impossible  owing  to  the  entire  absence  of  accommoda- 
tion in  the  way  of  inns  and  private  lodgings  for  so 
considerable  a  number  of  men  as  from  year  to  year 
formed  the  House  of  Burgesses. 

At  what  place  in  Jamestown  did  the  Assembly  hold 
its  regular  meetings?  The  first  representative  body 
to  convene  in  the  Colony  met  in  the  choir  of  the  church. 
This  building,  as  already  stated,  was  sixty  feet  in 
length  and  twenty-four  in  width,  and  was  lighted 
by  numerous  windows.  As  the  wood  used  in  its  in- 
terior consisted  of  cedar,  a  pungent  but  very  sweet 
and  pleasant  odor  must  have-  constantly  pervaded 
it.  In  the  time  of  De  la  Warr,  and,  no  doubt,  after- 
wards, it  was  kept  adorned  in  summer  with  clusters 
of  flowers,  and  in  winter  with  branches  of  the  indige- 
nous evergreens.     It  was  probably  the  most  spacious 

450 


House  of  Burgesses :  Place  of  Meeting    451 

structure  to  be  found  in  Virginia  in  16 19,  and  it  seems 
altogether  appropriate  that  the  first  popular  legislative 
body  recorded  in  American  history  should  have  held 
its  session  under  a  roof  consecrated  by  so  many  pious 
associations  and  cherished  memories.  The  reasons 
which,  in  the  beginning,  induced  the  Burgesses  to  come 
together  in  this  edifice  probably  operated  for  some 
years  in  influencing  subsequent  Assemblies  to  meet 
in  whatever  building  served  the  same  sacred  purpose; 
after  this,  it  is  probable  that  the  Burgesses  for  a  time 
convened  in  the  Governor's  residence,  or  in  one  of  the 
other  houses  belonging  to  him,  or  even  in  the  principal 
tavern,  as  at  a  later  date.1 

It  was  not  until  the  winter  of  1636-7  that  the  subject 
of  a  separate  State-House  appears  to  have  been  brought 
forward  with  any  practical  definiteness.  The  English 
Government,  in  the  instructions  which  they  gave 
Harvey  at  that  time,  directed  him  to  see  that  steps 
were  taken  by  the  General  Assembly  to  build  such  a 
capitol;  long  so  urgently  needed.  Under  the  influence 
of  this  injunction,  a  special  tax  of  two  pounds  of  to- 
bacco per  poll  was  imposed  throughout  the  Colony. 
Writing  in  April,  1638,  Secretary  Kemp  mentions  the 
fact  that  George  Menefie  had  been  chosen  to  accom- 
pany to  England  the  tobacco  thus  procured,  in  order, 
with  the  proceeds,  to  obtain  the  workmen  required 
to  construct  the  projected  building.2  The  amount  of 
that  commodity  secured  by  the  first  measure  does 

1  Mr.  Tyler,  in  his  valuable  and  interesting  work  entitled  The 
Cradle  of  the  Republic,  suggests  that  the  Assembly  during  a  part 
of  Harvey's  administration  held  its  sessions  in  one  of  the  houses 
belonging  to  him  situated  on  the  island. 

2  The  tax  was  designed  partly  also,  as  already  stated,  to  provide 
a  fund  for  building  a  fort  at  Point  Comfort;  see  British  Colonial 
Papers,  vol.  ix.,  No.  97. 


452  Political  Condition 

not  seem  to  have  been  sufficient,  for,  in  the  winter 
of  1639-40,  a  second  Act  to  the  same  effect  was  passed.1 
This  second  levy  apparently  afforded  all  the  funds 
demanded  for  the  purpose,  for  Harvey,  writing  to  the 
Commissioners  of  Plantations  the  same  month,  declared 
that  the  building  of  the  State-House  would  now  be 
"performed  with  all  diligence."2  Grants  and  leases 
relating  to  lands  situated  in  the  island  indicate  that 
the  Assembly  was  in  occupation  of  a  State-House  of 
its  own  sometime  previous  to  1643.3  This  structure 
consisted  in  reality  of  three  distinct  houses  joined 
together,  all  of  which  were  built  of  brick,  with  an 
individual  extension  of  forty  feet  in  length  and  twenty 
in  breadth.4  The  one  used  as  a  State-House  stood  in 
the  middle  of  the  group.  About  1656,  the  structure 
having  been  rendered  untenable  by  a  conflagration, 
the  Assembly  was  compelled  to  rent  an  apartment 
in  the  residence  of  a  private  citizen,  for  the  use  of  which 
thirty-five  hundred  pounds  of  tobacco  was  annually 
appropriated.5 

A  second  State-House  was  acquired  by  purchase,  but 
in  its  turn  was  destroyed  by  fire.  The  Assembly  was 
now  more  averse  than  ever  to  the  use  of  private  resi- 
dences in  holding  its  sessions.  The  rent  asked  was 
considered  to  be  so  exorbitant  that  it  was  openly 

*  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  i.,  p.  226. 

2  British  Colonial  Papers,  vol.  x.,  No.  5. 

3  See  Tyler's  Cradle  of  the  Republic,  p.  115.  Mr.  S.  H.  Yonge 
shows,  apparently  conclusively,  that  the  first  State-House  was  one 
of  the  triple  buildings  purchased  from  Harvey,  in  April,  1641;  see 
Va.  Maga.  of  Hist,  and  Biog.,  vol.  xii.,  pp.  46,  48.  This  building 
had  no  doubt  been  purchased  with  the  tobacco  designed  at  first 
for  the  erection  of  a  new  State-House. 

«  Va.  Maga.  of  Hist,  and  Biog.,  vol.  viii.,  pp.  389,  408. 
»  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  ii.,  p.  12;  Tyler's  Cradle  of  the  Republic, 
p.  115. 


House  of  Burgesses ;  Place  of  Meeting    453 

declared  that,  in  two  or  three  years,  the  charges  would 
equal  the  cost  of  erecting  a  State-House.  Moreover,  the 
place  of  meeting  was  almost  always  a  tavern,  and  the 
Assembly  felt  that  it  was  unbecoming  that  the  laws 
of  the  Colony  should  be  adopted  under  a  roof  of  so 
little  dignity.1  Influenced  by  these  two  objections, — 
the  one  practical,  the  other  sentimental, — the  Burgesses 
in  October,  1660,  requested  Berkeley  to  draw  up  a 
plan  for  the  construction  of  a  State-House;  and  they 
agreed  to  reimburse  him  in  full  for  all  the  expenditures 
which  he  might  make  in  carrying  through  the  work. 
In  obedience  to  this  injunction,  Berkeley  proceeded  to 
impress  ten  men  of  the  "ordinary  sort  of  people"  to 
erect  the  proposed  building,  but  this  must  soon  have 
been  concluded  to  be  impossible  with  such  untrained 
mechanics,  not  to  speak  of  the  great  pecuniary  burden 
which  their  wages  and  maintenance  were  certain  to 
impose  on  the  taxpayers  of  the  Colony.2 

The  following  winter,  the  Assembly  "taking  into 
consideration  the  great  charge  brought  yearly  on  the 
country  by  the  want  of  a  State-House  for  the  Quarter 
Courts  and  Grand  Assembly,"  decided  to  secure  the 
building  of  the  structure  by  a  "free  and  charitable 
subscription"  as  much  less  onerous  than  a  public 
levy.  The  Governor  and  the  members  of  the  Council 
and  of  the  House  entered  their  names  at  the  head  of 
the  list  in  order  to  set  an  example  of  public  generosity 
for  the  people  at  large;  and  the  justices  of  the  county 
courts  and  the  vestries  of  the  different  parishes  were 
instructed  to  lay  the  matter  before  the  inhabitants 
of  the  country  situated  within  their  jurisdictions,  and 

1  See  Orders  of  Assembly,  March  23,  1661,  Colonial  Entry  Book, 
vol.  lxxxvi.  For  burning  of  second  State-House,  see  Va.  Maga. 
of  Hist,  and  Biog.,  vol.  xii.,  p.  52. 

2  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  ii.,  p.  13. 


454  Political  Condition 

to  urge  a  liberal  response  in  support  of  so  laudable  a 
scheme.1  It  is  not  probable  that  this  appeal  proved 
very  encouraging,  but  nevertheless  the  General  Assem- 
bly again  authorized  Berkeley  to  undertake  the  build- 
ing of  the  proposed  State-House.  The  Burgesses  must 
have  thought  that  sufficient  funds  were  now  to  be 
obtained  by  public  taxation,  for  they  directed  that 
thirty  thousand  pounds  of  tobacco  should  be  raised 
at  the  next  levy  for  this  purpose,  and  that  whatever 
more  should  be  needed  to  complete  the  building  should 
be  appropriated  when  the  second  general  levy  was 
laid.2 

This  order  resulted  in  nothing  at  the  time,  for,  in 
the  course  of  September,  1663,  it  was  asserted  that  the 
country  was  still  at  a  very  heavy  charge  in  renting 
apartments  in  private  residences  and  taverns  for  the 
use  of  the  General  Court  and  the  General  Assembly. 
Again  the  latter  body  took  steps  to  erect  a  State- House, 
the  first  of  which  was,  for  the  third  time,  to  appoint 
a  committee  to  make  the  proper  arrangements  with 
Berkeley,  chosen  now  as  before  to  superintend  the 
work.3  The  General  Assembly  was  thoroughly  in 
earnest,  and,  by  1666,  the  State-House  had  made 
sufficient  progress  to  accommodate  the  members  of 
that  body,  the  General  Court,  and  the  Governor  and 
Council,  when  they  held  their  regular  sessions.4  This 
structure  was  still  standing  when  the  Insurrection  of 

1  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  ii.,  p.  38. 

2  Orders  of  Assembly,  March,  1661,  Colonial  Entry  Book,  vol. 
lxxxvi. 

3  Randolph  MS.,  vol.  Hi.,  pp.  286,  287. 

*  An  Act  of  Assembly  dated  Nov.  9,  1666,  refers  incidentally  to 
the  "House  going  down  to  wait  on  the  Governor's  Honor."  The 
Assembly  met  on  the  upper  floor;  the  Governor  and  Council  in 
a  room  below. 


House  of  Burgesses :  Place  of  Meeting    455 

1676  broke  out;  and  it  was  into  its  windows  that  Bacon, 
on  a  memorable  occasion,  threatened  to  shoot.  It 
was  finally  burned  down  in  the  great  conflagration 
which  occurred  when  he  abandoned  the  town  just 
before  retiring  to  Gloucester  county  to  die. 

In  the  winter  of  the  following  year,  the  General 
Assembly  was  compelled  to  hold  its  sittings  at  Green 
Spring,  as  there  was  no  house  standing  in  Jamestown 
itself  in  which  its  members  might  meet.1  It  was 
probably  at  this  session  that  the  Burgesses,  overcome 
by  discouragement  over  the  town's  complete  oblitera- 
tion, passed  a  resolution  in  favor  of  establishing  the 
capital,  and  of  building  the  new  State-House,  at 
Tyndall's  Point,  as  the  spot  combining  the  greatest 
number  of  advantages  for  the  country  at  large.2  Be- 
fore the  end  of  the  same  year,  the  General  Assembly 
had  convened  at  the  Middle  Plantation,3  which  the 
people  of  York  county  had  petitioned  that  body  to 
adopt  for  its  permanent  place  of  meeting;  it  is  quite 
probable  that  the  Burgesses  had  consented  to  come 
together  there,  at  least  once,  in  order  to  find  out  whether 
it  offered  enough  to  justify  such  a  step.  Left  to  their 
own  judgment,  they  would  have  abandoned  James- 
town as  long  open  to  serious  objection  on  account  of 
the  insalubrity  of  its  air,  but  the  English  Commissioners, 
Morryson,  Berry,  and  Jeffreys,  were  strongly  opposed  to 
such  a  course,  and  on  their  earnest  recommendation, 
supported  by  the  English  Government's,  the  General 
Assembly  in  the  end  determined  to  restore  the  ancient 
capital   and   to   rebuild   the    State-House   there.     In 

»  Henrico  County  Records,  vol.  1677-92,  orig.  p.  117;  Winder 
Papers,  vol.  ii.,  p.  90;  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1675-81,  p.  151. 

2  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  ii.,  p.  405. 

3  Ibid.,  p.  421;  Henrico  County  Records,  vol.  1677-92,  orig. 
P-  35- 


456  Political  Condition 

April,  1677,  the  sittings  were  resumed  at  Jamestown, 
and  once  more  the  Burgesses  found  themselves  under 
the  necessity  of  meeting  in  a  tavern.1  Seven  years 
afterwards,  they  had  secured,  for  their  own  occupation, 
the  ground  floor  of  Mrs.  Ann  Macon's  residence,  whilst 
the  floor  overhead  was  divided  off  into  the  clerk's 
office,  chambers  for  the  several  committees,  and 
apartments  for  the  Council  and  General  Court;  prac- 
tically, the  entire  space  of  the  house  seems  to  have 
been  engaged;  and  in  return  for  granting  it  for  these 
public  uses,  Mrs.  Macon  was  paid  annually  the  sum 
of  twelve  thousand  pounds  of  tobacco.2 

A  contract  was  drawn  up  in  1684  for  the  erection 
of  the  new  State-House,  and  the  parties  to  it  were,  on 
the  one  side,  the  Governor  and  the  Speaker,  acting 
for  the  General  Assembly,  and  on  the  other,  Philip 
Ludwell,  acting  for  himself.  Its  provisions  were 
submitted  on  May  2 2d  to  the  House,  and  by  that 
body  approved.3  The  next  question  to  arise  was  as 
to  how  the  fund  needed  to  meet  the  cost  of  the  build- 
ing should  be  procured;  and  it  seems  to  have  been 
obtained,  at  least  in  part,  by  an  import  tax  on  liquors  4 
By  October  8th  of  the  following  year,  the  structure 
had  made  such  progress  towards  completion  that  the 

1  Tyler's  Cradle  of  the  Republic,  p.  52. 

2  Minutes  of  Assembly,  May  15,  1684,  Colonial  Entry  Book, 
1682-95. 

3  Ibid.,  May   22,  1684,  Colonial   Entry   Book,  1682-95,  P-  2°9- 

4  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1682-95,  p.  298;  see  discussion  of  a  bill 
to  tax  liquors  recorded  in  1684,  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1682-98, 
p.  176.  The  State-House  seems  to  have  been  known  popularly 
as  the  "General  Court-House. "  Nicholson  wrote  of  the  "unlucky 
accident  of  ye  General-Court  House  being  burned  down,  in  which 
building  were  several  offices  and  House  of  Burgesses  also  sat." 
This  was  in  1698-9;  see  letter  dated  Feb.  4,  1698-9,  B.  T.  Va.,  vol. 
vi. 


House  of  Burgesses :  Place  of  Meeting    457 

Burgesses  requested  the  Governor  to  assign  the  cham- 
ber over  the  porch  to  their  clerk  for  use  as  an  office, 
a  purpose  which  it  would  serve  most  conveniently, 
since  the  apartment  was  situated  next  to  the  one 
reserved  for  themselves.  The  corresponding  room  in 
the  former  State-House  had  been  occupied  by  the 
Secretary,  and  this  fact  had  caused  certain  incon- 
veniences thought  to  be  injurious  to  the  public  welfare ; 
for  instance,  not  only  did  the  Secretary's  assistants 
catch  every  word  spoken  in  the  Assembly  Hall,  but 
strangers,  under  pretence  of  business,  crowded  into 
the  Secretary's  office,  in  order  really  to  listen  to 
the  Burgesses'  debates.1  Information  thus  obtained 
was  spread  far  and  wide  through  the  different 
counties. 

In  1 69 1,  the  Assembly  convened  at  Green  Spring, 
apparently  because  the  State-House  was  too  much  out 
of  repair  to  allow  a  meeting  to  be  held  conveniently 
within  its  walls.2  Two  years  later,  the  Governor  and 
Council,  with  great  earnestness,  urged  the  restoration 
of  the  building  to  its  former  perfect  condition,  but 
quite  probably  little  was  done,  and  in  1698,  it  was 
entirely  destroyed  by  fire,  the  fourth  State-House  to 
perish  in  this  manner  since  the  foundation  of  the  Colony. 
As  it  was  suspected  at  the  time  that  the  structure  had 
been  reduced  to  ashes  by  the  torch  of  an  incendiary, 
a  committee  was  appointed  to  make  a  careful  investi- 
gation; but  when  its  report  was  submitted  to  the 
Attorney-General,  that  officer  decided  that  the  proof 


«  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1682-95,  p.  307.  On  October  5,  Auditor 
Bacon  was  ordered  to  pay  Ludwell  £400  in  consideration  of  the 
rebuilding  of  the  State-House.  A  bond  was  taken  for  its  comple- 
tion; see  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1682-95,  p.  298. 

2  Northumberland  County  Records,  Orders  Aug.  20,  1691. 


458  Political  Condition 

was  insufficient  to  convict  the  man  who  was  charged 
with  the  crime.1 

The  first  act  of  the  Burgesses  now,  as  after  the  de- 
struction of  the  preceding  State-House,  was  to  pass 
a  resolution  in  favor  of  the  capital's  removal  from 
Jamestown;  and  the  advisability  of  this  course  was 
again  based  on  the  ground  that  a  more  healthy  site 
was  desirable.  Andros,  who  was  then  Governor,  had 
promptly  announced  the  disaster  to  the  English  au- 
thorities, and  in  doing  so  had  declared  that  the  building 
could  not  be  replaced  for  a  sum  less  than  two  thousand 
pounds  sterling,  an  estimate  seemingly  excessive  in 
the  light  of  the  purchasing  power  of  this  amount  of 
money  at  that  time.2 

As  soon  as  the  first  General  Assembly  to  meet  after 
the  conflagration  had  occurred  came  together,  the 
question  of  building  a  new  State-House  was  taken  up 
with  great  earnestness.  The  earliest  point  discussed 
was  as  to  the  character  of  the  tax  which  should  be 
imposed  in  order  to  secure  the  fund  required;  and  it 
was  decided  on  May  8,  1699,  that  each  white  servant 
imported  into  the  Colony  should,  for  this  purpose,  be 
made,  on  his  arrival,  subject  to  a  duty  of  fifteen  shil- 
lings, and  each  slave  to  a  duty  of  twenty.  Servants  of 
English  birth,  however,  were  after  debate  excepted  from 
the  burden  of  this  heavy  charge;  and  the  Act  itself 
was  to  cease  to  operate  at  the  end  of  three  years.3 
Ten  days  afterwards,  the  House  adopted  a  resolution 
favorable  to  the  selection  of  the  Middle  Plantation 

»  Minutes  of  Council,  Oct.  20,  1698,  B.  T.  Va.,  vol.  liii.  These 
minutes  mention  the  fact  that  the  State-House  was  burned  down 
on  that  day.     The  man  accused  was  Arthur  Jarvis. 

2  B.  T.  Va.,  1698,  vol.  vi.,  p.  413. 

*  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  iii.,  p.  193;  Minutes  of  Assembly,  May 
8,  1699,  B.  T.  Va.,  vol.  Iii. 


House  of  Burgesses :  Place  of  Meeting    459 

as  the  site  of  the  future  capital;  and  within  twelve 
hours,  the  Governor  and  Council,  sitting  as  the  Upper 
House,  had  given  their  assent.  It  was,  no  doubt, 
in  some  measure,  due  to  Nicholson's  influence  that 
Middle  Plantation  was  chosen,  as  he  was  anxious  to 
advance  the  new  College's  welfare  by  making  that 
place  the  scene  of  the  General  Assembly's  annual 
meeting,  and  thus  the  centre  of  the  Colony's  political 
and  social  as  well  as  intellectual  interests.  The 
Governor  indeed  declared  that  the  value  to  the  insti- 
tution of  the  Assembly's  presence  would  be  equal  to 
a  gift  of  two  thousand  pounds  sterling.1 

The  next  step  was  to  adopt  a  plan  for  the  projected 
State- House.  The  first  draft  seems  to  have  been 
drawn  by  the  Council,  and  on  May  23d,  it  was  sub- 
mitted at  a  conference  of  the  two  committees  repre- 
senting respectively  the  Upper  and  Lower  Chamber. 
On  the  same  day,  the  plat  agreed  upon  at  this  con- 
ference was  laid  before  the  Burgesses2 ;  who  three  days 
later,  accepted  it  finally.  The  site  for  the  building 
had  already  been  chosen  by  the  two  Houses.  The 
specifications  of  the  building  itself  called  for  a  founda- 
tion constructed  of  brick  partitions  having  a  thickness 
of  four  bricks  as  far  as  the  surface  of  the  ground;  and 
from  thence,  as  far  as  the  water  table,  the  walls,  still 
of  brick,  were  to  maintain  a  uniform  thickness  of  three 
and  a  half.  From  the  water  table  to  the  top  of  the 
first  story,  the  thickness  was  not  to  exceed  three  bricks ; 
while  from  the  top  of  the  first  story  to  the  top  of  the 
second,  not  to  exceed  two  and  a  half.  There  were  to 
be  really  two  buildings  standing  parallel  to  each  other, 

1  Minutes  of  Assembly,  May  18,  1699,  B.  T.  Va.,  vol.  Hi.;  see 
Nicholson's  address  to  the  House  May  18,  1699,  Minutes  of  Council, 
B.  T.  Va.,  vol.  Hi. 

2  Minutes  of  Assembly,  May  23,  1699,  B.  T.  Va.,  vol.  Hi. 


460  Political  Condition 

but  connected  by  a  gallery  of  the  same  height  resting 
upon  pilasters  and  constructed  also  of  brick,  with 
corresponding  degrees  of  thickness  throughout.  This 
gallery  was  to  be  crowned  with  a  cupola.  The  roofs 
of  the  two  main  buildings,  which  were  to  be  c6vered 
with  cypress  shingles,  were  to  be  hipped,  and  their 
sloping  surface  was  to  be  broken  by  dormer  windows. 
One  of  these  two  buildings  was  to  be  reserved  for  the 
use  of  the  Council  and  the  General  Court;  the  other 
for  the  use  of  the  House  of  Burgesses;  and  the  offices 
to  be  attached  to  each  of  these  bodies  were  to  be 
situated  next  to  its  own  chamber. 

The  committee  entrusted  with  the  revisal  of  the 
laws  was  authorized  to  enter  into  the  necessary  con- 
tracts for  the  erection  of  the  buildings,  and  to  make 
whatever  other  provision  should  be  required  for 
completing  the  undertaking.  They  were  impowered, 
for  instance,  to  procure  from  England  iron  work, 
glass,  paint,  and  the  like,  all  unobtainable  at  this 
time  in  Virginia.  To  prevent  a  temporary  lack  of 
funds  from  impeding  the  progress  of  construction,  the 
Treasurer  was  ordered  to  pay  all  bills  which  should 
be  presented  during  the  interval  to  precede  the  next 
meeting  of  the  Assembly;  conditional,  however,  upon 
their  total  amount  not  exceeding  fifteen  hundred 
pounds  sterling;  and  each  bill  also  had  to  be  first  ap- 
proved by  the  committee,  and  the  warrant  directing 
payment  signed  by  the  Governor. 

The  Act  authorizing  the  erection  of  a  new  capitol 
passed  the  House  of  Burgesses  on  the  sixth  day  of 
June,  1699.  Nicholson  soon  issued  his  proclamation 
announcing  the  time  and  place  when  and  where  the 
committee  having  charge  of  the  whole  undertaking 
would  hold  its  first  meeting;  the  interval  between  the 


House  of  Burgesses :  Place  of  Meeting   461 

sixth  and  ninth  of  September  was  designated  as  the 
time,  and  Jamestown  as  the  place;  and  every  member 
of  the  committee  was  ordered  to  be  present  to  receive 
and  consider  any  proposition  which  might  be  made 
looking  to  the  construction  of  the  buildings.  With 
a  view  to  spreading  far  and  wide  information  as  to  the 
committee's  willingness  to  entertain  bids,  the  procla- 
mation was  publicly  read  at  every  church,  chapel-of- 
ease,  court-house,  and  other  public  place  situated  in 
the  Colony.1 

So  confident  were  the  authorities  of  the  early  com- 
pletion of  the  new  capitol,  that,  on  October  24th,  the 
Attorney-General  received  instructions  from  the  Gov- 
ernor and  Council  to  prepare  a  proclamation  which 
should  announce  that,  after  May  10,  1700,  the  sessions 
of  the  Assembly  and  the  terms  of  the  General  Court 
would  be  held  in  the  City  of  Williamsburg.2 

•  For  these  various  details  see  B.  T.  Va.,  vol.  viii.,  Doct.  54; 
Minutes  of  House  of  Burgesses,  May  25,  1699,  B.  T.  Va.,  vol.  Hi. ; 
ibid.,  June  6,  1699,  B.  T.  Va.,  vol.  Hi. 

2  Minutes  of  Council,  Oct.  24,  1699,  B.  T.  Va.,  vol.  Hi. 


CHAPTER  XXVI 

House  of  Burgesses — Hour  of  Meeting  and 
Attendance 

WHETHER  they  met  in  the  morning  or  at  night, 
the  Burgesses  assembled  at  the  tap  of  the 
drum.  In  the  public  levy  for  1682,  the  tith- 
ables  of  James  City  county  were  assessed  for  the  benefit 
of  Robert  Wilson,  who  had  acted  in  the  capacity  of 
drummer  to  the  House  for  a  period  of  two  years  and  a 
half.1  At  a  later  date,  Edward  Ross,  the  gunner  em- 
ployed in  the  fort  at  Jamestown,  was  rewarded  for 
the  like  service  by  the  payment  to  him  of  twenty-two 
pounds  sterling ;  and  he  was  then  discharged  from  further 
duty.2  In  163 1,  the  Upper  and  Lower  House,  before 
meeting  in  their  respective  chambers,  attended  in  a 
body  prayers,  which  were,  no  doubt,  held  in  the  church ; 
this  occurred  at  the  third  beating  of  the  drum,  an  inci- 
dent that  marked  the  end  of  the  first  hour  following 
sunrise.3  Sometimes,  the  Burgesses  convened  as  early 
as  half  past  five  in  the  morning;  but  the  usual  hour 
for  assembling  ranged  from  seven  to  eight  o'clock.4 
It  should  be  remembered  that  the  members  of  the  House 

*  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1682-95,  p.  80. 

*  Ibid.,   1680-95,  P-  379- 

*  Randolph  MS.,  vol.  iii.,  p.  217. 

*  Minutes  of  House  of  Burgesses,  AprH  17,  18,  May  21,  1691, 
B.  T.  Va.,  No.  28. 

462 


House  of  Burgesses :  Attendance      463 

belonged  exclusively  to  the  planting  class,  who  were 
in  the  habit  of  breakfasting  not  long  after  dawn  so  as 
to  be  able  to  superintend  in  person  the  agricultural 
operations  of  their  estates  before  the  heat  of  the  day- 
had  fully  set  in.  Nor  were  there  any  extraordinary 
amusements  in  the  social  life  of  Jamestown  which  are 
likely  to  have  kept  the  Burgesses  out  of  their  beds 
for  many  hours  after  the  sun  had  gone  down,  and  thus 
led  to  late  rising  next  morning.  Not  infrequently, 
however,  when  public  affairs  were  pressing,  or  the 
members  were  anxious  to  return  to  their  own  homes 
to  look  after  a  crop  of  tobacco  recently  planted,  a 
meeting  of  the  House  would  take  place  after  dark  by 
candle  light;  and  these  sittings  very  often  were  pro- 
longed until  a  late  hour. 

A  mace  and  sword  formed  a  part  of  the  parapher- 
nalia of  the  House.  The  King  himself,  in  1678, 
presented  the  Burgesses  with  such  emblems  of  Parlia- 
mentary state  and  dignity.1  These  "ornaments  and 
utensils"  as  they  were  designated,  were,  during  the 
intervals  of  adjournment,  in  the  charge  of  a  special 
custodian;  Joseph  Copeland  was,  in  1688,  entrusted 
with  this  duty,  an  indication  that  he  enjoyed  a  repu- 
tation for  extraordinary  carefulness,  since  there  were 
probably  no  articles  of  value  belonging  to  the  public 
regarded  as  more  sacred  than  the  mace  and  sword.2 
During  the  hours  the  House  was  sitting,  these  emblems 
of  authority  always  rested  on  the  table  in  front  of  the 
Speaker. 

The  daily  proceedings  of  the  House  began  with 
prayer;    and   for   this   spiritual   service,    a   chaplain, 

1  British  Colonial  Papers,  vol.  xlii.,  No.  152;  Colonial  Entry  Book, 
1676-81,  p.  263. 

8  Minutes  of  Assembly,  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1682-95,  p.  602. 


464  Political  Condition 

nominated  by  the  Speaker  and  approved  by  the 
Governor,  was  permanently  employed.1  The  invo- 
cation was  followed  by  the  roll  call.  The  House  was 
very  strict  in  requiring  the  attendance  of  all  its  members 
at  the  opening  of  the  session.  An  Act  passed  in  1659- 
60  provided  that  a  Burgess  who  failed  to  be  present 
on  the  day  appointed  by  the  writ  for  the  House's 
assembling  should  be  fined  three  hundred  pounds  of 
tobacco  for  every  twenty-four  hours'  absence,  unless 
he  could  offer  an  acceptable  excuse  for  his  apparent 
delinquency.2  This  regulation  seems  to  have  been 
repeatedly  renewed.  One  of  the  principal  reasons 
for  its  adoption  was  that  the  election  of  a  Speaker 
might  be  delayed  if  the  absent  members,  when  the 
session  began,  were  numerous;  or  a  Speaker  might 
be  chosen  who  would  not  really  represent  the  prefer- 
ence of  a  majority  of  the  House,  an  act  certain  to 
arouse  much  ill-feeling,  to  the  detriment  of  the  public 
business.3  At  the  first  sitting,  it  was  customary  for 
the  letters  addressed  to  the  Speaker  in  explanation 
of  the  writers'  absence  to  be  read  and  approved  or 
rejected.4  Sometimes,  the  explanation  given  was  re- 
garded as  aggravating  the  offence.  In  1691,  James 
Bray,  the  Burgess  elected  by  James  City,  neglected  to 
attend  at  the  opening  of  the  session,  and  so  unbecoming 
did  the  House  consider  his  excuse  to  be,  that  they 
instructed  the  Speaker  to  issue  a  warrant  for  the  de- 
linquent's arrest ;  and  he  seems  to  have  been  detained 
in  the  sheriff's  custody  until  he  offered  a  hearty  apology 

1  Rev.  Cope  Doyley  filled  the  office  in  1696;  see  Minutes  of  House 
of  Burgesses,  Sept.  30,  1696,  B.  T.  Va.,  vol.  Hi. 
»  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  i.,  p.  532. 
3  Ibid.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  107;  Colonial    Entry  Book,  vol.  lxxxix.,  p. 

34- 

*  Calendar  of  Va.  State  Papers,  p.  52  et  seq. 


House  of  Burgesses :  Attendance     465 

for  his  conduct.  When  Bray  did  attend  a  sitting,  he 
was  prevented  by  scruples  of  conscience  from  taking 
the  new  oath  prescribed  by  Parliament,  and  was  there- 
fore disabled  from  serving.1 

Equal  strictness  was  shown  by  the  House  in  enforcing 
the  attendance  of  its  different  members  from  day  to 
day.  One  of  the  first  regulations  touching  this  point, 
adopted  as  early  as  1631,  imposed  a  fine  of  two  shil- 
lings and  sixpence  for  every  failure  to  be  present  at  a 
sitting.2  Thirty  years  afterwards,  the  penalty  was, 
under  special  circumstances,  increased  to  one  hogshead 
of  tobacco,  an  evidence  of  the  importance  attached  to 
the  performance  of  the  Burgess*  duties.  This  high 
penalty  would  seem  excessive  but  for  the  fact  that  it 
could  only  be  imposed  on  Monday,  for  it  was  really 
designed  to  discourage  members  from  leaving  town 
over  Sunday,  with  the  intention  of  returning  in  time 
for  the  beginning  of  the  next  week's  sittings;  it  was 
probably  anticipated  that  the  Burgesses  absenting 
themselves  even  for  this  short  period  might  be  un- 
avoidably prevented  by  the  weather  or  some  accident 
from  appearing  at  the  Monday  meeting.3 

Any  Burgess  venturing  to  go  to  his  home  during 
the  session,  without  first  obtaining  the  House's  consent, 
was  looked  upon  as  guilty  of  an  act  of  contempt. 
When  the  Assembly  reconvened  in  May,  1684,  it  was 
found  that  five  of  its  principal  members,  namely, 
Major  Henry  Whiting,  of  Gloucester  county,  Abraham 
Weekes  and  Richard  Perrott,  of  Middlesex,  Captain 

i  Minutes  of  House  of  Burgesses,  May  12,  1691,  B.  T.  Va.,  No. 
28. 

2  Randolph  MS.,  vol.  iii.,  p.  217. 

3  Acts  of  Assembly,  1663,  Randolph  MS.,  vol.  iii.,  p.  287.  It  is 
probable  that  on  Saturday,  which  was  a  half  holiday,  as  in  England, 
the  Assembly  did  not  sit. 

vol.  11 — 30 


466  Political  Condition 

David  Fox,  of  Lancaster,  and  Major  Charles  Scar- 
borough, of  Accomac,  were  not  present  to  respond  at 
the  roll  call;  and  it  was  shown  that  they  had  taken 
their  departure  without  first  securing  the  necessary 
license.  A  resolution  was  promptly  adopted  requiring 
the  sheriffs  of  these  counties  to  collect  from  each  of 
these  Burgesses,  for  the  commission  of  so  grave  an 
offence,  a  fine  of  one  thousand  pounds  of  tobacco.1 
Mr.  Taylor  and  Mr.  Goodrich,  having  absented  them- 
selves without  permission  for  the  purpose  of  revisiting 
their  estates,  the  messenger  of  the  House  received  orders 
to  inform  them  that  they  would  not  be  allowed  to 
take  their  seats  again  without  first  applying  to  the 
House  for  admittance;  and  they  were  only  restored 
after  they  had  submitted  an  apologetic  petition.2  So 
rigidly  conscientious  was  the  House  in  enforcing  its 
members'  attendance,  that  it  disclaimed  possession  of 
the  right  to  relieve  a  Burgess  of  the  duty  of  being 
present  at  its  sittings  even  when  his  constituents  had 
formally  requested  that  this  privilege  should  be  granted 
to  him.  The  House  justified  this  position  by  asserting 
that  such  a  Burgess  had  only  been  authorized  to  take 
his  seat  after  a  "  legal  and  deliberate  examination  of  his 
returns";  and  when  that  seat  had  been  once  taken, 
it  could  not  be  vacated  by  the  House's  action  unless 
the  occupant  had  been  found  guilty  of  some  heinous 
offence;  in  which  event,  it  would  be  necessary  to  re- 
place him  by  the  election  of  another  Burgess.  The 
question  immediately  involved  at  the  time  this  an- 

»  Minutes  of  Assembly,  May  24,  1684,  Colonial  Entry  Book, 
1682-95,  p.  216. 

2  Minutes  of  House  of  Burgesses,  Oct.  10,  1696,  B.  T.  Va.,  vol. 
Hi.  A  similar  petition  signed  by  nine  members  will  be  found 
in  the  Minutes  for  April  29,  1695;  see  Colonial  Entry  Book, 
1682-95. 


House  of  Burgesses :  Attendance     467 

nouncement  was  made,  was  as  to  whether  a  county- 
had  a  right  to  reduce  its  representation  by  obtaining 
the  Assembly's  consent  to  dismiss  one  of  the  county's 
members.1 

i  Acts  of  Assembly,  Oct.  29,  1666,  Randolph  MS.,  vol.  iii.,  p.  296. 
The  county  of  Isle  of  Wight  had  petitioned  the  House  to  dismiss 
one  of  the  county's  three  members,  which  practically  would  have 
reduced  its  representation  to  two.  This  was  desired  because  it 
would  curtail  the  county's  expenses  on  its  Burgesses'  account  one 
third. 


CHAPTER  XXVII 
House  of  Burgesses:  Its  Officers 

THE  most  important  of  all  the  offices  connected  with 
the  House  was  the  Speakership.  By  whom  and 
in  what  manner  was  the  incumbent  of  this  office 
chosen?  When  the  first  General  Assembly  convened 
in  1619,  the  Governor  and  Council  occupied  seats  in 
the  same  apartment  as  the  Burgesses ;  practically,  the 
two  Houses,  on  this  occasion,  constituted  one  body, 
although  after  prayer  the  Burgesses  retired  into  the 
middle  part  of  the  church,  where  they  were  called  to 
order,  and  took  the  oaths  of  allegiance  and  supremacy.1 
It  is  probable  that  their  Speaker  was  chosen  imme- 
diately after  these  oaths  had  been  subscribed  to;  in 
which  event,  it  is  not  likely  that  the  Governor  and 
Council  had  any  voice  in  his  nomination.  As  soon  as 
the  Upper  House  ceased  to  sit  in  the  same  room  as  the 
House  of  Burgesses, — which  seems  to  have  occurred 
at  an  early  date, — there  is  no  reason  to  think  that  the 
Governor  and  Council,  as  the  Upper  Chamber,  partici- 
pated even  indirectly  in  the  Speaker's  election,  except 
possibly  during  the  period  of  the  Commonwealth.2 

*  Minutes  of  Assembly,  161 9,  p.  11,  Colonial  Record  of  Virginia, 
State  Senate  Doct.,  Extra,  1874. 

2  "Ordered  that  Lieut.-Col.  Fletcher  etc. attend  the  Governor  and 
Council  and  request  of  them  their  reasons  wherefore  they  cannot 
join  with  us,  the  Burgesses,  in  the  business  of  the  Assembly  about 

468 


House  of  Burgesses :  Its  Officers      469 

It  was  the  Burgesses'  custom  to  assemble,  and  then, 
in  a  body,  to  wait  on  the  Governor  in  order  to  request 
his  permission  to  choose  a  Speaker;  they  then  returned 
to  their  own  chamber  and  elected  that  officer;  and  very 
soon  afterwards  a  committee  was  nominated  to  inform 
the  Governor  of  the  fact,  and  also  of  the  Burgesses' 
readiness  to  wait  on  him  again  with  their  new  Speaker 
at  their  head.  As  a  rule,  the  Governor  in  reply  sent 
them  word  that  he  would  receive  them  at  whatever 
hour  would  harmonize  with  their  convenience;  and  at 
the  hour  appointed,  the  Burgesses  would  make  their 
appearance,  and  their  Speaker's  election  would  be 
formally  approved.  So  soon  as  this  part  of  the  cere- 
mony was  completed,  that  officer  would,  in  the  House's 
name,  beg  for  the  reconfirmation  of  all  the  privileges 
enjoyed  by  previous  Assemblies;  and  to  this  the  Gover- 
nor would  graciously  assent.  When  Robert  Carter, 
of  Lancaster  county,  was  chosen  Speaker  in  1699, 
and  in  that  character  presented  to  Nicholson,  he  de- 
clared that,  in  making  the  usual  prayer,  he  was  giving 
voice  to  the  wishes,  not  only  of  the  Burgesses  them- 
selves, but  also  of  the  whole  commonalty  of  Virginia. 
The  most  important  privileges  enumerated  by  Carter 

the  election  of  Lieut. -Colonel  Walter  Chiles  for  Speaker  of  this 
Assembly,  Lieut. -Colonel  Chiles  having  by  plurality  of  votes  been 
chosen  Speaker  of  the  Assembly" ;  Acts  of  1653,  Randolph  MS.,  vol. 
iii.,  p.  247.  Governor  Bennett,  however,  expressly  disclaimed  any 
intention  to  encroach  on  the  Assembly's  right  to  choose  a  speaker. 
The  following  was  the  Burgess'  oath  in  1652:  "You  and  every  of 
you  shall  swear  on  the  Holy  Evangelists  and  in  the  sight  of  God 
to  deliver  your  opinions  faithfully  and  honestly  according  to  your 
best  understanding  and  conscience  for  the  general  good  and  pros- 
perity of  this  country,  and  every  particular  member  thereof,  and 
do  your  utmost  endeavor  to  prosecute  that,  without  mingling  with 
it  any  particular  interest  of  any  person  or  persons  whatsoever"; 
Randolph  MS.,  vol.  iii.,  p.  245. 


47o  Political  Condition 

in  his  address  on  this  occasion  were  free  access  to  the 
Governor's  presence  in  order  to  offer  a  petition  or  to 
express  complaints,  liberty  of  debate  on  the  floor  of 
the  House,  and  exemption  from  arrest  for  the  members 
and  their  body  servants  during  a  specified  interval.1 
It  happened  at  times  that  the  Burgesses  found  some 
difficulty  in  electing  a  Speaker.  In  1699,  there  was 
a  delay  of  several  days  in  making  a  choice.  Nicholson, 
becoming  impatient,  dispatched  a  message  to  the 
members  that  they  must  not  leave  their  chamber 
until  they  had  selected  their  presiding  officer,  as  every 
hour  this  was  deferred  simply  increased  the  charge 
which  the  Assembly's  sittings  imposed  on  the  tax- 
payers. The  reply  was  at  once  returned  that  each  of 
two  candidates  had  obtained  twenty  votes,  and  only 
the  arrival  of  lagging  Burgesses  could  finally  decide 
the  contest.  This  incident  clearly  reveals  the  need 
of  the  stringent  measures  adopted  to  ensure  the  prompt 

*  See  an  account  of  Colonel  Thomas  Milner's  election  to  the 
Speakership  in  1691,  Minutes  of  House  of  Burgesses,  April  17, 169 1, 
B.  T.  Va.,  No.  28.  An  account  of  the  election  of  Robert  Carter  is 
recorded  in  Minutes  of  Council,  May  2,  1699,  B.  T.  Va.,  vol.  Hi. 
See  for  an  earlier  period,  Randolph  MS.,  vol.  iii.,  p.  281.  It  was 
not  often  that  the  Governor  ventured  to  interfere  with  the  choice  of 
any  particular  member  for  Speaker,  and  when  he  did  so,  it  was  for 
some  very  good  public  reason.  An  instance  occurred  in  1653,  as 
the  following  communication  from  Governor  Bennett  shows: 
"Gentlemen,  not  to  encroach  on  right  of  Assemblies  in  the  free 
choice  of  Speaker,  nor  to  undervalue  Lieut. -Colonel  Chiles,  it  is 
my  opinion,  and  Council  concurring  therein,  that  it  is  not  so  proper 
or  so  convenient  at  this  time  to  make  choice  of  him,  for  there  is 
something  to  be  agitated  in  this  Assembly  concerning  a  ship  lately 
arrived  in  which  Colonel  Chiles  had  some  interest,  for  which  and 
some  other  reasons  we  conceive  it  better  at  present  to  make  choice 
of  some  other  person  whom  you  shall  agree  upon. 

"  Your  real  servant, 

"Richard  Bennett." 
Randolph  MS.,  vol.  iii.,  p.  247. 


House  of  Burgesses:  Its  Officers      471 

attendance  of  members  at  the  opening  of  the  session.1 
The  office  of  Speaker  was  a  lucrative  as  well  as  an 
influential  one.  In  16 19,  when  the  first  Assembly 
to  meet  in  Virginia  was  about  to  close  its  sittings,  it 
entered  an  order  that  there  should  be  imposed  on  every 
freeman  and  man-servant  to  be  found  in  the  Colony 
at  that  time  a  tax  of  one  pound  of  tobacco,  with  the 
object  of  ensuring  an  ample  reward  to  the  Speaker, 
clerk,  and  sergeant  of  the  House  for  their  faithful 
performance  of  the  duties  of  their  several  positions.2 
Later  on,  the  Speaker's  salary  was  obtained  in  the  same 
manner  as  that  of  the  Governor: — every  county  was 
required  to  contribute  towards  his  remuneration  in 
proportion  to  the  number  of  its  tithables;  for  instance, 
in  1668,  York  was  assessed  for  this  purpose  to  the  extent 

»  Minutes  of  Council,  April,  1699,  B.  T.  Va.,  vol.  lii.  The  fol- 
lowing address  delivered  by  William  Randolph  when  elected 
Speaker  in  1698,  shows  how  little  the  manner  of  returning  thanks 
for  such  an  honor  differs  from  century  to  century.  The  words 
might  well  have  been  uttered  at  the  present  day:  "Gentlemen,  I 
acknowledge  it  a  great  honour  conferred  on  me  by  being  chosen 
Speaker  of  the  House,  but  on  the  other  side,  I  must  confess  my  own 
disability.  My  capacity  is  not  large  enough  to  comprehend  the 
weighty  matters  incident  to  this  chair,  the  difficulties  of  which 
I  am  ye  more  encouraged  to  undertake  when  I  consider  how  many 
worthy  members  are  here  present,  and  have  hopes  of  the  assistance 
of  every  one  of  them;  and,  therefore,  do  entreat  you,  gentlemen, 
that  if  any  lapse  of  the  tongue  or  mistake  in  any  other  matters 
shall  any  time  hereafter  happen  through  my  weakness,  that  you 
will  be  pleased  not  to  impute  it  to  an  error  of  the  mind  and  will, 
for  I  can  assure  you,  gentlemen,  that  I  have  a  settled  resolution 
and  purpose  to  serve  the  House  with  all  faithfulness,  integrity, 
and  diligence,  that  thereby  as  much  as  in  me  lies,  the  affairs  we  are 
here  met  about  may  be  carried  and  proceeded  in  with  that  dis- 
patch and  consideration  as  may  best  serve  the  good  and  welfare  of 
this  Government";  Minutes  of  House  of  Burgesses,  Sept.  30,  1698, 
B.  T.  Va.,  vol.  lii. 

2  Proceedings  of  Assembly  of  1619,  Colonial  Records  of  Vir- 
ginia, State  Senate  Doct.,  Extra,  1874. 


472  Political  Condition 

of  two  thousand  pounds  of  tobacco,  and  in  1682,  to 
the  extent  of  six  thousand  and  thirteen  pounds.1  If 
the  same  proportion  was,  during  these  two  years, 
maintained  throughout  the  Colony,  the  emoluments 
of  the  Speaker's  office  were  very  considerable. 

Secondary  to  the  Speakership,  but  nevertheless  an 
office  of  great  importance,  and  one  much  sought  after 
in  case  of  a  vacancy,  was  the  clerkship  of  the  House. 
The  clerk  seems  to  have  been  elected  immediately  after 
the  ceremonial  visit  which  it  was  the  custom  of  the 
Burgesses  and  their  Speaker  to  make  to  the  Governor 
when  the  Speaker  himself  had  been  nominated.  The 
Governor's  approval  of  the  choice  of  a  clerk  had  also 
to  be  obtained;  and  for  this  purpose,  a  committee  was 
always  appointed  to  inform  him  of  the  new  incumbent's 
name  as  soon  as  he  was  selected.  It  is  not  improbable 
that,  when  there  was  a  delay  in  the  election  of  a  Speaker, 
the  clerk  was  chosen  first.2  Howard  claimed  that  he 
had  the  right  to  remove  the  clerk  and  to  replace  him 
with  another,  should  he  see  fit  to  do  so.  He  was  very 
anxious  to  establish  the  rule  that  this  officer  should  be 
nominated  by  the  Crown  and  paid  out  of  the  royal 
revenues.  The  object  to  be  gained  by  the  proposed 
change  was  simply  to  make  the  clerk  a  creature  of 
the  Governor  and  his  Council,  and  the  reporter  to 

»  York  County  Records,  vol.  1664-72,  p.  288,  Va.  St.  Libr.; 
vol.  1675-84,  orig.  p.  438. 

2  See  Minutes  of  House  of  Burgesses,  April  17,  1691,  B.  T.  Va., 
No.  28.  Culpeper  stated  that,  before  himself,  no  Governor  had 
ever  "appointed"  a  clerk  of  the  House.  It  seems  that  Robert 
Beverley  was  "recommended"  to  him  by  the  House  to  be  their 
clerk,  and  this  action  was  seconded  by  the  Council.  Practically, 
this  simply  meant  that  the  clerk  was  elected  by  the  House,  subject 
now  for  the  first  time  to  the  approval  of  the  Governor.  It  seems 
unlikely  that  the  first  recommendation  came  from  that  official; 
see  British  Colonial  Papers,  vol.  xlvii.,  No.  105. 


House  of  Burgesses :  Its  Officers      473 

them  of  the  House's  most  private  proceedings;  it  was 
to  convert  the  confidential  officer  of  that  body  into 
a  corrupt  spy;  and  to  expose  him  permanently  to  the 
just  suspicions  of  the  men  in  whose  presence  he  would 
sit  from  day  to  day.  The  mere  suggestion  of  placing 
him  beyond  the  Assembly's  authority  shows  how 
far  Howard  was  prepared  to  go  in  depriving  its  mem- 
bers of  all  their  privileges.  If  he  succeeded,  as  he 
boasted  he  would  do,  in  taking  away  the  clerk's  de- 
pendence on  "his  great  masters,  the  House  of  Bur- 
gesses, "  it  was  only  for  a  time,  since  in  1691  that  body 
is  found  electing  their  clerk  with  the  same  formalities 
as  had  been  observed  before  Howard's  arrival.1 

The  chief  duty  of  the  clerk  consisted  of  making  and 
keeping  full  and  accurate  minutes  of  the  Burgesses' 
proceedings ;  and  it  was  also,  as  a  rule,  obligatory  upon 
him  to  deliver  a  copy  of  these  minutes  to  any  person 
asking  for  it  and  ready  to  pay  the  amount  prescribed 
by  law  to  be  due  for  the  transcription.2  A  similar 
copy  had  to  be  sent  by  the  clerk,  at  the  close  of  each 
session,  to  the  Commissioners  of  Trade  and  Planta- 
tions.3 In  1682,  Robert  Beverley,  who  was  rilling  the 
office  at  this  time,  declined  to  deliver  to  the  Governor 
and  Council  on  their  peremptory  order  a  copy  of  the 
journal;  and  in  justification  of  his  refusal,  he  alleged 
that  he  was  the  mere  servant  of  the  House,  and  could 
not,  without  their  leave,  comply  with  the  demand. 
A  dispute  had    arisen    between    the  Governor    and 

*  See  Bancroft's  History  of  the  United  States,  vol.  ii.,  p.  253;  see 
also  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  iii.,  pp.  40,  41,  550;  and  British  Colonial 
Papers,  vol.  lvii.,  No.  46. 

2  Orders  of  Assembly,  April  10,  1682,  Colonial  Entry  Book,  vol. 
lxxxvi.,  p.  370. 

3  In  1692,  Peter  Beverley  is  found  doing  this;  see  B.  T.  Va.,  1692, 
No.  100. 


474  Political  Condition 

Burgesses  as  to  whether  the  clerk  should  be  sworn 
as  the  recording  officer  of  the  General  Assembly,  or 
merely  of  the  House  of  Burgesses,  in  harmony  with  the 
precedent  set  by  the  House  of  Commons.1 

When  a  fourth  State-House  was  erected  at  James- 
town after  the  destruction  of  the  third  during  the 
Insurrection  of  1676,  a  room  in  the  new  building  was 
reserved  for  the  use  of  the  clerk  of  the  Assembly.  It 
is  probable  that,  as  a  matter  of  common  convenience, 
this  officer  was,  throughout  the  century,  assigned  an 
apartment  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the  Burgesses' 
hall,  and  that  it  was  here  that  he  kept  the  records, 
books,  and  papers  placed  in  his  custody.  There  seems 
however,  to  have  been  no  regulation  forbidding  him 
to  remove  any  document  to  his  own  residence.  When 
Robert  Beverley  died,  after  filling  the  office  for  some 
years,  a  committee,  composed  of  his  two  most  promi- 
nent neighbors  in  Middlesex  county,  where  his  home 
was  situated,  Ralph  and  Christopher  Wormeley,  was 
appointed  to  receive  all  the  records  of  the  Assembly 
then  in  his  widow's  possession,  and  to  convey  them  to 
Jamestown  for  delivery  to  his  successor.2 

Of  the  officers  of  the  House,  the  third  in  importance 
was  the  messenger,  who  seems  to  have  been  really  a 
sergeant-at-arms,  although  not  always  so  referred  to 
by  name.  As  we  have  seen,  such  an  officer  so  desig- 
nated was  attached  to  the  Assembly  of  16 19.  The 
place  of  the  sergeant  or  messenger  was  at  the  bar  of  the 
House,  where  he  was  liable  at  any  time  to  have  to 
answer  to  the  Speaker's  call.3  This  call  generally  re- 
lated to  the  arrest  of  members  who  had  committed 

1  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1680-95,  pp.  9,  53,  153,  April,  1682. 

2  Ibid.  p.  238. 

3  Minutes  of  Assembly,  1619,  p.  11,  Colonial  Records  of  Vir- 
ginia, State  Senate  Doct.,  Extra,  1874. 


House  of  Burgesses :  Its  Officers      475 

some  offence,  such,  for  instance,  as  a  peculiarly  serious 
breach  of  the  rules,  or  neglect  to  attend  the  sittings 
of  the  House ;  in  either  event,  the  delinquent  was  accom- 
panied to  the  bar  by  the  sergeant,  who  remained  at 
his  elbow  during  the  course  of  the  examination  that 
followed.  In  1695,  as  many  as  nine  members  were  in 
the  custody  of  the  messenger,  as  the  sergeant  seems 
to  have  been  now  generally  known ;  and  he  was  ordered 
to  bring  them  before  the  House  so  that  they  might 
have  an  opportunity  of  making  their  defence.  This 
they  appear  to  have  done  in  the  form  of  a  petition.1 
In  cases  attended  with  a  high  degree  of  responsibility, 
the  messenger  perhaps  was  dispatched  to  a  distance 
from  Jamestown;  but  under  ordinary  circumstances, 
the  demands  upon  his  attention  in  the  House  were  so 
constant  and  exacting,  that  it  is  quite  probable  that 
special  messengers  were  engaged  when  the  duty  to  be 
discharged  was  one  requiring  absence  from  the  capital 
for  some  length  of  time.  This  is  proven  by  the  large 
sums  disbursed  during  some  years  as  remuneration  for 
the  performance  of  special  missions.  The  messenger 
seems  to  have  been  recommended  by  the  Governor; 
for  instance,  in  1696,  Andros  named  John  Chiles  as  a 
proper  person  "to  attend  the  House  during  the  present 
session  of  the  Assembly."  Chiles,  summoned  to  the 
bar,  was  informed  that  he  was  accepted  by  the  Bur- 
gesses as  their  messenger,  and  that  his  presence  would 
be  required  at  each  sitting.  In  return  for  his  services 
in  that  capacity,  he  was  to  receive  a  salary  of  twenty- 
five  pounds  sterling.2 

i  Minutes  of  Assembly,  April  29,  1695,  Colonial  Entry  Book, 
1682-95. 

2  Minutes  of  House  of  Burgesses,  Sept.  28,  1696,  B.  T.  Va.,  vol. 
lii.;  Minutes  of  Council,  June  15,  1696,  B.  T.  Va.,  vol.  liii. 


476  Political  Condition 

In  the  course  of  1682,  the  House  had  use  for  as  many 
as  four  door-keepers  at  one  time,  and  the  like  was  also 
the  case  in  1698;  from  which  it  is  to  be  inferred  that 
this  was  the  usual  number  engaged  in  its  service.1 
It  is  not  improbable  that  so  many  were  employed  be- 
cause it  was  necessary  that  there  should  be  door- 
keepers for  the  committee  rooms  as  well  as  for  the 
Assembly  hall ;  and  it  is  possible  also  that  the  same  men 
were  expected  to  act  as  pages,  and  to  keep  the  several 
apartments  in  a  state  of  good  order  and  cleanliness. 

In  addition  to  the  various  persons  whom  we  have 
mentioned  as  being  present  in  one  capacity  or  another 
at  the  daily  sittings  of  the  Assembly,  the  only  ones 
attending  formed  the  guard  assigned  for  that  body's 
use  during  the  session,  although  permanently  attached 
to  the  Governor's  suite.  This  squad  of  soldiers  was 
under  the  command  of  an  officer  appointed  by  the  Bur- 
gesses themselves2 ;  and  their  presence  was  required, 
not  so  much  to  promote  the  Assembly's  dignity  as  to 
enforce  the  orders  given  to  the  messenger  or  sergeant- 
at-arms  in  case  there  was  any  show  of  resistance. 

1  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1682-95,  P-  8o;  Minutes  of  House  of 
Burgesses,  Sept.  30,  1698,  B.  T.  Va.,  vol.  Hi. 

2  Orders  of  Assembly,  Sept.  10,  1663,  Colonial  Entry  Book,  vol. 
lxxxvi. 


CHAPTER  XXVIII 
House  of  Burgesses:  Procedure  and  Committees 

THE  Burgesses'  procedure  was  modelled  on  that  of 
Parliament  at  this  period.  In  a  speech  delivered 
by  William  Fitzhugh  before  the  House,  in  1682 
(and  there  were  few  better  informed  men  in  the  Colony 
than  he),  he  declared  that  the  only  deviation  from 
the  procedure  of  the  English  Commons  lay  in  the  man- 
ner in  which  appeals  were  settled;  and  he  urged  that, 
in  order  to  bring  the  Assembly's  rules  into  complete 
harmony  with  those  of  Parliament,  its  great  prototype, 
the  Council,  in  its  character  as  the  Upper  Chamber, 
should  be  represented  in  the  composition  of  the  House 
Committee  on  Private  Claims.  After  the  right  of 
appeal  to  the  Assembly  was  so  much  modified, — a 
radical  change  which  occurred  about  the  time  Culpeper 
became  Governor, — the  procedure  of  the  Burgesses 
did  not  differ  in  any  important  respect  from  that 
of  the  English  Commons;  and  this  was  true  of  its 
regulations  for  extraordinary  as  well  as  for  ordinary 
occasions;  for  instance,  when  Fitzhugh  himself  was 
impeached  by  the  Assembly,  the  rules  shaping  the 
course  of  his  trial  were  precisely  the  same  as  those 
enforced  in  Parliament  under  similar  circumstances.1 

1  Letters  of  William  Fitzhugh,  April  5,  1687;  for  Fitzhugh' s 
reference  to  House  of  Commons,  see  Minutes  of  Assembly,  April 
24,  1682,  Colonial  Entry  Book,  vol.  lxxxvi.,  p.  377. 

477 


478  Political  Condition 

Describing  the  House's  procedure  at  the  end  of  the 
century,  Beverley  declared  that  it  was  based  on  the 
closest  imitation  of  the  procedure  so  long  followed  by 
the  English  House  of  Commons.1  Practically,  there- 
fore, from  1619  to  1700,  the  latter  had  served  as  the 
great  model  for  the  corresponding  legislative  body  in 
Virginia. 

So  soon  as  the  House  had  settled  down  to  the  busi- 
ness of  the  session,  it  chose  the  members  of  the  com- 
mittees upon  which  fell  the  brunt  of  its  work.  It  would 
appear  that  the  number  of  committees  appointed  by 
the  first  Assembly  did  not  exceed  two;  but  at  a  later 
date,  the  number  had  been  increased  to  three;  which 
consisted  of  the  Committee  to  examine  the  Election 
Returns,  the  Committee  on  Propositions  and  Griev- 
ances, and  the  Committee  on  Claims.2  So  important 
were  these  several  committees  of  the  House  considered 
to  be  that  each  was  permitted  to  employ  its  own  clerk, 
whose  salary  was,  in  1656,  fixed  at  so  high  a  figure  as 
fifteen  hundred  pounds  of  tobacco3;  and  so  much 
larger  had  that  salary  become  twenty  years  later,  that 
it  caused  very  grave  popular  discontent.  The  Eng- 
lish Commissioners,  in  describing  the  Colony's  con- 
dition just  before  and  after  the  Insurrection  of  1676, 
stated  that  each  clerk  was  then  paid  as  much  as  four 
thousand  pounds  of  tobacco,  although,  not  infrequently, 

1  Beverley's  History  of  Virginia,  p.  190.  Among  the  instructions 
given  to  Jeffrey  Jeffreys,  the  agent  of  the  Colony  in  England  in 
1 69 1,  was  the  following:  "To  supplicate  their  Majesties  to  confirm 
to  Virginia  ye  authority  of  ye  General  Assembly  consisting  of 
ye  Governor,  Council,  and  Burgesses  as  near  as  may  be  to  ye  model 
of  ye  Parliament  of  England, "  etc. ;  Minutes  of  House  of  Burgesses, 
May  22,  1691,  B.  T.  Va.,  No.  23. 

2  Minutes  of  Assembly,  April  24,  1688,  Colonial  Entry  Book, 
1682-95,  P-  502. 

3  Randolph  MS.,  vol.  iii.,  p.  272;  Winder  Papers,  vol.  ii.,  p.  149. 


House  of  Burgesses :  Committees     479 

their  respective  tasks  during  a  session  did  not  exceed 
twenty  lines  of  writing.  In  the  report  which  they 
drew  up,  the  Commissioners  urged  that,  instead  of 
employing  a  clerk  to  prepare,  for  the  information  of 
the  House,  a  full  account  of  his  committee's  work, 
its  chairman  should  prepare  that  account  himself, 
and  thus  do  away  with  the  need  of  any  expenditure 
in  salaries.1  No  change  followed  from  this  apparently 
wise  recommendation,  for,  in  1682,  each  clerk  was  in 
receipt  of  a  salary  that  even  exceeded  four  thousand 
pounds  of  tobacco.2 

Owing  to  lack  of  room  in  the  different  buildings  in 
which  the  Burgesses  themselves  sat,  the  committees 
generally  were  forced  to  seek  a  place  of  meeting  in  a 
private  residence;  for  instance,  in  1682,  accommoda- 
tion was  found  in  the  home  of  Thomas  Clayton;  and 
for  this,  he  was  paid  as  much  as  two  thousand  pounds 
of  tobacco.3  During  1695,  the  Committee  on  Propo- 
sitions and  Grievances  occupied  an  apartment  in 
William  Sherwood's  house;  and  the  Committee  on 
Private  Claims,  one  in  the  house  of  John  Brod- 
nax.4 

What  were  the  particular  duties  of  the  respective 
committees?  The  work  of  the  Committee  on  Elec- 
tions was,  as  a  rule,  the  simplest  of  all : — it  was  to  pass 
on  the  credentials  of  every  newly  returned  member. 
This  committee  was  appointed  immediately  after  the 

1  Winder  Papers,  vol.  ii.,  p.  149.  In  1688,  the  clerk  of  the  Com- 
mittee on  Propositions  and  Grievances  was  Peter  Beverley;  and  of 
the  other  two  committees  combined,  Henry  Randolph ;  both  citizens 
of  distinction  in  the  Colony  at  that  time. 

2  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1682-95,  p.  80. 

3  Ibid. 

«  Minutes  of  Assembly,  April  22, 1695,  Colonial  Entry  Book  1682- 
95.  The  Burgesses  sat  in  the  same  houses  in  1696;  see  Minutes, 
Sept.  28,  1696,  B.  T.  Va.,  vol.  Hi. 


480  Political  Condition 

reading  of  orders,  which  always  took  place  after  the 
call  of  the  roll.1 

Perhaps  the  chief  duty  of  the  Committee  on  Propo- 
sitions and  Grievances  was  to  inquire  into  and  report 
on  the  complaints  laid  before  the  House  by  the  in- 
habitants of  the  different  counties  from  time  to  time. 
Instances  of  this  kind  occurred  as  early  as  1635.  Ap- 
parently, at  this  date,  statements  of  grievances  were 
occasionally  presented,  not  to  the  House,  but  to  the 
General  Assembly  sitting  as  a  Committee  of  the  Whole. 
Not  long  before  Harvey  was  deposed,  the  Council  (in 
the  capacity  of  an  Upper  Chamber)  and  the  House  of 
Burgesses  met  at  Jamestown  in  order  to  give  a  hearing 
to  the  numerous  protests  against  oppression  made  by 
the  people.2  In  this  case,  and  probably  in  all  cases 
at  this  time,  the  petitions  seeking  redress  were  pre- 
sented, not  by  the  Burgess  of  the  county  where  the 
complainants  resided,  but  by  the  complainants  in 
person. 

By  1663,  the  custom  had  become  established  for 
counties  and  individuals  to  present  their  petitions  of 
complaint  through  the  Burgesses  representing  them. 
In  order  that  the  inhabitants  of  a  county  might  have 
an  opportunity  of  formulating  their  grievances  in 
sufficient  time  for  submission  to  the  House,  the  law 
required  the  sheriff  to  give  ample  information  as  to 
the  day  when  and  the  place  where  their  member  would 
be  ready  to  receive  them.3  Some  years  afterwards,  the 
justices  of  Accomac  instructed  the  clerk  of  the  court 

}  Randolph  MS.,  vol.  iii.,  p.  281. 

2  See  letter  of  Samuel  Mathews,  May  25,  1635,  British  Colonial 
Papers,  vol.  viii.,  1634-5,  No.  65. 

3  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  ii.,  p.  212.  The  place  of  meeting  was 
generally  "at  the  usual  place  of  election";  and  the  people  were 
informed  of  the  day  "by  publication  in  the  parish  churches." 


House  of  Burgesses :  Committees     481 

to  set  up  a  notice  at  the  court-house  door  that  all 
the  freeholders  of  the  upper  part  of  the  county  hav- 
ing complaints  to  make  were  expected  to  meet  the 
Burgess  at  Mr.  Thomas  Fowlkes's  residence  for  the 
purpose  of  laying  these  complaints  before  him  with  a 
view  to  their  being  reported  to  the  Assembly  for 
redress.1  And  this  was  probably  the  course  very 
generally  followed  in  the  Colony  at  this  time. 

So  extraordinary  were  the  number  of  grievances 
presented  after  the  suppression  of  the  Insurrection 
of  1676,  that  it  was  thought  necessary  to  restrain 
the  liberty  of  the  people  in  this  respect.  It  was  de- 
clared by  the  General  Assembly  in  1680  that  this  right 
had  been  allowed  so  much  latitude  that  ill  disposed  and 
seditious  persons  claiming  to  represent  the  inhabitants 
of  a  whole  county,  but  in  reality  representing  only 
themselves,  took  advantage  of  it  to  bring  before  the 
House  complaints  which  were  scandalous  or  rebellious 
in  spirit.  In  order  to  put  a  stop  to  this  abuse,  the 
sheriff  of  each  county  was  instructed  to  appoint  the 
time  and  place  for  the  reception  of  grievances;  and 
unless  these  grievances  were  reduced  to  writing  and 
signed  by  the  person  or  persons  offering  them,  and  the 
signature  attested  by  the  clerk  or  the  presiding  justice 
of  the  county  court,  they  were  not  to  be  submitted  to 
the  Burgess  for  transmission  to  the  House.2  It  was 
hoped  that,  in  this  way,  all  objectionable  petitions  would 
be  effectually  shut  out  from  consideration,  as  these 
officers  could  be  relied  upon  to  refuse  to  attest  them 
if  the  contents  were  calculated  to  offend  the  Assembly. 

Such  a  regulation  as  this  was  as  likely  to  err  as  far 

*  Accomac  County  Records,  vol.  1671-73,  p.  16. 
2  Acts  of  Assembly,   1680,  Colonial  Entry  Book,  vol.  lxxxvi.; 
Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  ii.,  p.  482. 
vol.  11 — 31 


482  Political  Condition 

on  the  side  of  improper  suppression  as  absolute  freedom 
of  petition  was  on  the  side  of  license.  Nevertheless, 
the  Burgesses  never  showed  greater  intolerance  of  all 
interference  with  the  right  of  the  people  to  present 
their  grievances  than  after  its  adoption.  An  incident 
occurred  in  1688  which  illustrated  this  fact  in  a  re- 
markable manner.  It  had  recently  come  to  light  that 
Colonel  John  Custis,  the  collector  of  customs  for  the 
Eastern  Shore,  had  been  guilty  of  demanding  extor- 
tionate fees  of  shipmasters,  merchants,  and  traders 
who  had  had  occasion  to  transact  official  business 
with  him.  At  the  next  election  for  Burgesses  in 
Accomac  county,  the  people  presented  in  writing  a 
full  list  of  their  complaints,  and  these  included  very 
severe  strictures  on  Custis' s  conduct.  Learning  of 
this,  Custis,  who  was  present  when  the  list  was  handed 
in,  uttered  many  menacing  words  in  a  loud  voice,  and 
shaking  his  cane  furiously  and  threateningly,  seized 
the  paper  and  refused  to  give  it  up,  declaring,  in  the 
hearing  of  the  crowd,  that  if  another  list  of  grievances 
was  drawn  up,  he  would  seize  and  keep  that  also.  The 
people  were  so  much  overawed  by  his  violent  and  reso- 
lute demeanor  that  they  refrained  on  that  occasion 
from  repeating  their  charges.  Information  of  his  act, 
however,  came  to  the  Burgesses'  ears,  and  their 
indignation  was  so  much  aroused  in  consequence,  that 
they  addressed  a  formal  request  to  the  Governor  to 
apply  the  law  of  England  for  the  prevention  in  the 
future  of  such  "unwarrantable  practices,"  so  that  the 
inhabitants  of  the  Colony  might  not  "by  the  power  or 
greatness  of  any  person  be  hindered  or  molested  in 
giving  in  their  just  grievances  for  redress  by  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly  according  to  the  King's  writ  for  elec- 
tion of  Burgesses."     In  terms  of  great  severity,  they 


House  of  Burgesses :  Committees     483 

condemned  Custis  for  presuming  on  the  dignity  of 
his  office,  and  the  influence  of  his  wealth  and  high 
social  position.1 

At  least  thirteen  counties,  in  1691,  laid  complaints 
before  the  House  through  the  channel  of  their  respec- 
tive Burgesses.2  It  was  during  this  year  that  George 
Worsham,  of  Henrico,  in  behalf  of  himself  and  several 
others,  who  with  him  had  subscribed  a  paper  containing 
a  statement  of  their  personal  grievances,  delivered  the 
document  to  the  county's  Burgess  in  the  court-room 
at  the  county  seat;  and  this  was  probably  the  manner 
in  which  such  a  petition  was  most  often  presented.3 
It  still,  however,  had  to  be  attested  by  the  clerk  of  the 
court  or  the  presiding  justice,  a  fact  which,  in  actual 
practice,  gave  the  court  itself  the  right  to  pass  upon 
the  character  of  its  contents.  In  1692-3,  when  a  paper 
of  this  kind  was  thus  submitted  to  the  judges  of  Hen- 
rico, they  found  on  reading  it  that  it  was  open  to 
strong  objection  from  the  point  of  view  of  the  King's 
interests;  and,  in  consequence,  they  declined  to  allow 
it  to  be  attested.4  The  knowledge  that  every  such 
statement  of  grievances  had  to  be  first  brought  to  the 
county  court's  attention  led  the  Burgess  to  announce 
publicly  that  all  petitions  of  this  nature  would  be 
received  by  him  at  the  monthly  term  of  this  body; 
and  this  course  was  the  more  convenient,  as  the  ma- 
jority of  the  House's  members  also  sat  on  the  different 
county  benches,  and  were,  therefore,  required  to  be 
present  at  the  meetings  of  the  justices.  Promptness 
in  dealing  with  the  grievances  was  thus  assured;  the 

1  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1682-95,  p.  571. 

2  Minutes  of  House  of  Burgesses,  April  21,  1691,  Colonial  Entry 
Book,  1682-95. 

3  Henrico  County  Minute  Book,  1 682-1 701,  p.  341,  Va.  St.  Libr. 
*  Henrico  County  Records,  Orders  February  20,  1692-3. 


484  Political  Condition 

court  examined  them  as  soon  as  handed  in,  and  if 
inoffensive,  ordered  their  immediate  attestation  and 
delivery  to  the  Burgess  for  transmission  to  the 
Assembly. i 

The  duty  of  the  Committee  on  Propositions  and 
Grievances  was  not  confined  to  reporting  to  the  House 
its  conclusions  as  to  the  justice  of  the  various  com- 
plaints submitted  to  that  body  by  the  Burgesses  as 
representatives  of  the  people.  All  propositions  of 
whatever  character,  but  particularly  propositions  re- 
lating to  the  passage  of  new  Acts,  came  first  under 
this  committee's  supervision;  in  this  respect,  it  per- 
formed the  functions  of  the  judiciary  committee  of  a 
modern  legislature ;  and  its  recommendations,  no  doubt, 
had  a  powerful  influence  in  shaping  the  final  decisions 
of  the  House.2  The  latter  body,  in  1682,  adopted  a 
resolution  that  thereafter  members  of  the  Council 
should  be  invited  to  assist  all  the  committees,  "but 
especially  this  committee,  in  debating  and  proposing 
matters  for  ye  consideration  of  ye  Grand  Assembly." 
This  seems  to  have  been  the  rule  down  to  1680.  The 
Governor  then  declined  to  consent  to  its  revival  and  con- 
tinuation, on  the  ground  that  it  was  repugnant  to  the 
usages  of  Parliament.  The  utility  of  the  rule  lay  in  the 
fact  that  a  bill  recommended  by  this  mixed  committee 

1  At  the  meeting  of  the  Henrico  County  Court,  held  April,  1695, 
an  order  was  entered  for  the  publication  of  the  fact  "that  on  the 
eleventh  day  of  this  instant  April,  the  Burgesses  of  this  county  will 
be  there  [i.  e.,  at  the  county  seat]  to  receive  their  county's  grievances 
if  any";  see  Henrico  County  Records,  vol.  1677-99,  p.  47,  Va.  St. 
Libr.  The  Present  State  of  Virginia,  i6gy-8  states  that  "To  know 
the  humours,  common  talk,  and  designs  of  the  people  of  a  county, 
there  is  no  better  way  than  to  peruse  the  Journal  of  the  House  of 
Burgesses  and  the  Committee  on  Propositions  and  Grievances"; 
section  vi. 

2  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  i.,  p.  497. 


House  of  Burgesses :  Committees     485 

would  pass  the  General  Assembly  on  its  merits  with 
promptness,  whereas  in  the  absence  of  the  rule,  every 
measure  adopted  by  the  Burgesses  would  have  to  be 
elaborately  explained  to  the  members  of  the  Upper 
House  before  there  could  be  any  hope  of  its  acceptance, 
a  'fact  that  would  inevitably  cause  great  delay,  and 
indirectly  increase  the  burden  of  public  taxation.  So 
much  at  heart  did  the  House  have  the  restoration  of 
the  former  regulation  that,  for  eighteen  days,  they 
declined  to  go  on  with  the  public  business.1 

After  1677,  the  Committee  on  Claims  was,  in  the  same 
manner  as  the  Committee  on  Propositions  and  Griev- 
ances, protected  from  those  encroachments  on  its  time 
and  attention  which  would  have  followed  had  no 
check  been  put  on  the  petitions  submitted  through  the 
Burgesses  by  their  constituents.  Subsequent  to  that 
year,  a  claim  for  money  expended  or  earned  had  to 
be  certified  by  the  court  of  the  county  where  the 
claimant  resided.2  As  already  pointed  out,  each 
county  court  held  at  least  one  term  during  the  year 
to  pass  upon  the  different  claims  made  in  writing 
either  against  the  county  itself,  or  the  general  public 
for  services  performed.  If  the  claim  against  the  pub- 
lic was  shown  to  be  proper  and  correct,  the  court's 
attestation  to  that  effect  authorized  its  delivery  to  the 
Burgess  of  the  county  for  transmission  to  the  Assembly. 
After  this  preliminary  examination,  it  is  not  likely 
that  the  Committee  on  Claims  had  any  serious  diffi- 
culty in  rinding  out  whether  or  not  there  were  just 
reasons  for  recommending  it  to  the  House  for  final 
recognition.  If  business  of  this  kind  alone  had  de- 
manded the  Committee's  attention,  its  duties  would 

»  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1682-95,  p.  9. 
2  Acts  of  Assembly,  Feb.  20,  1677. 


486  Political  Condition 

not  have  been  exacting  or  burdensome.  Down  to  the 
time  when  the  Assembly's  right  to  hear  appeals  from 
the  General  Court's  decisions  was  greatly  curtailed, 
this  Committee  seems  to  have  been  the  one  always 
called  upon  to  investigate  the  law  and  the  facts  upon 
which  these  appeals  were  based,  a  task  requiring 
extraordinary  patience,  discrimination,  and  know- 
ledge of  legal  principles.  To  this  extent,  therefore, 
the  Committee  on  Claims  formed  a  very  important 
judicial  body;  and  its  members  were  no  doubt  chosen 
with  great  care.  When  these  judicial  functions  were 
very  much  curtailed,  the  necessity  for  this  care  was 
greatly  diminished. 

The  proceedings  of  the  House  when  the  reports  of 
committees  or  other  business  came  up  for  discussion 
were  governed  by  certain  general  regulations.  Perfect 
order,  for  instance,  was  required  to  be  enforced;  and 
no  member  was  allowed  to  address  the  presiding 
officer  except  as  "Mr.  Speaker."  Everyone  engaging 
in  the  debate  had  to  stand  up;  and  also  to  remove  his 
hat,  a  proof  that  the  custom  of  Parliament  down  to 
our  own  day  in  keeping  the  head  covered  while  the 
member  occupied  his  seat,  prevailed  in  the  House  of 
Burgesses  in  these  early  times.  Whoever  interrupted 
the  debater  on  the  floor  without  his  permission  made 
himself  liable  to  a  fine  of  one  thousand  pounds  of 
tobacco.  No  personalities  were  tolerated ;  the  Burgess 
guilty  of  such  an  offence  was  compelled  to  pay  a  fine 
of  five  hundred  pounds  of  the  same  commodity.  Nor 
was  a  member  suffered  to  address  the  House  more  than 
once  on  the  same  occasion,  as  a  more  frequent  partici- 
pation in  the  discussion  was  supposed  to  interfere 
with  the  rights  of  other  members  to  express  their 
opinions.     Smoking  in  the  Assembly  chamber  was  for- 


House  of  Burgesses :  Committees     487 

bidden  unless  the  House  had  adjourned  for  the  day 
or  for  a  recess;  and  in  the  latter  case,  it  was  only 
allowed  if  the  person  indulging  in  a  pipe  had  first 
obtained  the  consent  of  the  majority  of  the  Burgesses 
present.  Should  a  member  appear  in  the  Chamber 
perceptibly  under  the  influence  of  liquor,  he  was  con- 
demned to  pay  a  fine  of  one  hundred  pounds  of  tobacco.1 
As  a  rule,  the  House  finally  adjourned  only  after 
all  the  business  before  its  members  had  been  settled. 
Sometimes,  however,  it  was  suddenly  dissolved  by 
the  Governor  when  the  matters  requiring  its  attention 
had  only  been  partly  attended  to.  Occasionally,  the 
General  Assembly  on  its  own  motion  requested  that 
officer  to  prorogue  it,  or  at  least  to  authorize  it  to  take 
a  recess  of  some  length.  This  usually  occurred  when 
an  epidemical  disorder  was  prevailing  in  the  vicinity 
of  Jamestown.  In  1696,  small-pox  broke  out  there,  a 
contagious  distemper  held  in  peculiar  dread.  In  their 
address  to  the  Governor  asking  for  a  recess',  the  Assem- 
bly declared  that  this  disease,  which  was  known  to  be 
very  fatal,  was  propagated  in  a  very  rapid  manner; 
that  the  session  of  the  House  brought  a  crowd  of  per- 
sons to  Jamestown  unavoidably,  who  were  liable  to 
be  struck  down;  that  the  number  of  members  present, 
already  greatly  reduced  by  the  absence  of  many 
apprehensive  of  attack,  would  be  further  diminished 
should  the  contagion  reach  them;  and  that,  finally, 
the  spread  of  the  disease  among  them  signified  its 
spread  throughout  the  Colony,  as  their  homes  were 
so  widely  scattered.  Already,  one  of  the  Burgesses 
had  been  compelled  to  leave  because  the  distemper 
lad  shown  itself  in  the  circle  of  his  family.2 

»  Orders  of  Assembly,  1663,  Randolph  MS.,  vol.  iii.,  p.  288. 

2  Minutes  of  House  of  Burgesses,  April  25,  1696,  B.  T.  Va.,  vol.  Iii. 


488  Political  Condition 

Excepting  for  a  severe  epidemic  of  this  kind,  the 
House  is  not  known  to  have  adjourned  more  than  once 
under  the  influence  of  causes  affecting  the  general 
health  of  its  members.  In  1619,  the  first  General 
Assembly  to  convene  in  the  Colony  broke  up  before 
all  the  laws  had  been  engrossed,  on  account  of  the 
extraordinary  amount  of  sickness  prevailing  among 
the  Burgesses  in  consequence  of  the  excessive  heat; 
the  sittings  had  extended  into  August,  and  the  mem- 
bers had  thus  been  exposed  to  the  debilitating  rays 
of  the  hottest  suns  of  the  year  amid  the  miasmatic  airs 
rising  from  the  marshes  around  Jamestown.1 

1  Mr.  Shelley  was  the  only  one  of  the  Burgesses  who  died  at  the 
time;  see  Minutes  of  Assembly,  161 9,  Colonial  Records  of  Virginia, 
State  Senate  Doct.,  Extra,  1874. 


CHAPTER  XXIX 
House  of  Burgesses  :    General  Spirit 

ALTHOUGH  the  Burgesses  were  distinguished  by 
a  strong  spirit  of  loyalty  to  England  and  the 
throne,  nevertheless  they  had  a  clear  conception 
of  their  rights,  and  never  lacked  the  courage  to  main- 
tain them  against  the  encroachments  even  of  the  King 
himself.  The  Assembly  of  1619,  in  announcing  its 
readiness  to  submit  all  the  laws  and  orders  adopted  by 
it  to  the  Company  for  acceptance  or  rejection,  openly 
declared  that  any  regulations  which  the  quarter  courts 
in  London  might  draw  up  for  enforcement  in  the  Colony 
should  not  be  put  in  operation  until  the  General 
Assembly's  approbation  had  been  obtained.  This  was 
on  the  Burgesses'  part  a  very  bold  claim  of  a  right  to 
pass  upon  all  ordinances  emanating  from  the  fountain 
head  of  power  at  this  time ;  and  it  showed  very  plainly 
the  care  which  that  body  was  prepared  to  exercise  in 
overlooking  the  general  welfare  of  the  people.1  When 
the  King,  during  Harvey's  administration,  proposed 
to   purchase   from   year  to   year  the   entire   crop   of 

1  See  Minutes  of  Assembly,  1619,  Colonial  Records  of  Virginia, 
State  Senate  Doct.,  Extra,  1874.  "As  they  can  make  no  laws  until 
they  are  ratified  here  [i.  e.  England],  so  they  think  it  but  reason 
that  none  shall  be  enacted  here  without  their  consent,  because  they 
only  feel  them  and  must  live  under  them.  " — Works  of  Captain  John 
Smith,  vol.  ii.,  p.  65,  Richmond  edition. 

489 


49©  Political  Condition 

tobacco  produced  by  the  planters,  the  same  body,  in 
an  equally  unshrinking  spirit,  pronounced  the  amount 
offered  to  be  too  small,  and  it  did  not  hesitate  to  refuse 
to  enter  into  the  contract  suggested.1  A  high  tribute 
was  unintentionally  paid  to  the  sturdy  and  indepen- 
dent character  of  the  Burgesses  at  this  time  when 
Harvey  described  them  as  "rude  and  ill  conditioned," 
and  as  "more  likely  to  effect  mutiny  than  good  laws 
and  orders."2 

During  the  period  of  the  Commonwealth,  the  House 
managed  the  Colony's  affairs  with  few  instructions 
from  the  Mother  Country  to  hamper  it.  So  extreme 
were  the  claims  of  this  body  at  this  time  that  it  denied 
that  the  Governor  possessed  the  authority  to  dissolve 
it;  and  it  forced  Mathews  to  yield  to  this  contention 
until  the  whole  controversy  should  be  passed  upon 
in  England.  In  re-electing  him  to  the  same  office,  the 
Assembly  formally  declared  that  they  invested  him 
with  all  the  rights  and  privileges  incidental  to  the 
position;  which  was  tantamount  to  an  assertion  that 
they  possessed  absolute  power  in  the  Colony.  That 
body  went  so  far  in  1656  as  to  appoint  all  the  justices 
of  the  county  courts  and  the  principal  military  officers, 
hitherto  one  of  the  usual  prerogatives  of  the  Governor.3 

The  conditions  now  prevailing  in  the  Colony  were 
the  reverse  of  those  prevailing  in  England.  Parliament, 
which,  at  one  time,  concentrated  in  itself  every  branch 
of  civil  and  military  authority,  had  now  sunk  into 
impotency  under  the   strong  will   of   Cromwell.     In 

i  Harvey  declined  or  neglected  to  forward  the  letter  containing 
the  reasons  which  influenced  the  Assembly  in  its  action. 

2  Harvey  to  Windebank,  July  14,  1635,  British  Colonial  Papers, 
vol.  viii.,  No.  73. 

*  Va.  Maga.  of  Hist,  and  Biog.,  vol.  viii.,  p.  176;  Campbell's 
History  of  Va.,  p.  238. 


House  of  Burgesses :  General  Spirit  491 

Virginia,  on  the  other  hand,  owing  to  its  being  too 
remote  for  the  great  Protector  to  follow  its  affairs 
closely  and  continuously,  all  the  power  had  fallen  into 
the  hands  of  the  House  of  Burgesses.  It  is  a  remark- 
able fact  that  the  suppression  of  the  popular  liberties 
of  the  English  as  represented  by  their  House  of  Com- 
mons was  contemporaneous  with  the  expansion  of 
the  popular  liberties  of  the  Virginians  as  represented 
by  their  Assembly.  When  in  the  winter  of  1659-60, 
news  was  brought  to  Jamestown  that  the  Mother 
Country,  in  consequence  of  Cromwell's  death,  had 
drifted  into  a  state  of  great  distraction,  and  there  was 
no  longer  there  an  "absolute  and  confessed  power," 
an  order  was  adopted  that,  until  a  command  should 
be  received  from  London  which  could  be  considered 
as  undoubtedly  lawful,  the  whole  power  of  the  Colony 
was  to  reside  in  the  House,  and  no  writ  should  issue 
except  in  the  name  of  the  Grand  Assembly.1  During 
this  memorable  year,  the  Governor  was  instructed 
by  the  same  body  to  call  the  Burgesses  together  at 
least  once  in  the  course  of  every  twenty-four  months; 
and  he  was  forbidden  to  dissolve  them  without  the 
consent  of  a  majority  of  their  number.  But  above  all, 
he  was  not  pernrCted  to  appoint  the  Secretary  of 
State,  or  the  members  of  the  Council  without  the 
Assembly's  approval.2 

The  subserviency  of  the  Long  Assembly,  undis- 
solved from  1662  to  1676,  was  directly  attributable 
to  the  degrading  and  corrupting  influence  of  the  Resto- 
ration. These  influences,  which  led  in  England  to  the 
continuation  of  the  same  Parliament  through  eighteen 
years  without  a  single  dissolution,  were  felt  in  Virginia 

1  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  i.,  p.  530. 

2  Ibid.  p.  531. 


492  Political  Condition 

with  peculiar  force  by  that  powerful  class  which  fur- 
nished the  greater  number  of  the  Assembly's  members. 
The  spirit  prevailing  in  the  House,  which,  during  the 
Protectorate,  scught  to  exalt  the  power  of  the  people, 
was,  after  the  Restoration,  converted  into  a  disposition 
to  reduce  that  power ;  and  this  was  due  to  the  fact  that 
the  Burgesses  had  become  independent  of  the  people 
owing  to  the  cessation  of  periodical  popular  elections. 
All  the  members  who  had  served  in  freer  times  were 
soon  dropped.  The  Assembly  soon  grew  to  be  as 
much  of  an  oligarchy  as  any  body  so  submissive  to 
their  superior  officer  could  be  in  actual  practice;  and 
in  assuming  this  character,  they  were  unquestionably 
moulded  more  or  less  by  the  influence  of  Berkeley, 
who,  with  perfect  sincerity,  entertained  the  most  ex- 
treme views  as  to  the  scope  of  official  power.  His 
well  known  reason  for  retaining  this  Assembly  for  so 
many  years  without  giving  those  enjoying  the  suffrage 
an  opportunity  to  replace  all  its  members  should  they 
so  desire,  was  that  the  more  extended  the  experience 
of  these  men  as  Burgesses,  the  more  wisely  could  they 
perform  the  duties  of  their  place;  but  this  was  a 
reason  which  would  make  of  every  popular  Assembly 
a  permanent,  because  a  practically  self -perpetuating, 
body,  and  would  raise  it  entirely  above  the  approval 
or  disapproval  of  the  persons  supposed  to  possess  the 
franchise. 

The  sinister  influence  of  this  Assembly  cannot  be 
gauged  entirely  by  the  history  of  its  purely  legislative 
acts;  the  example  set  by  it  in  defying  public  sentiment 
by  countenancing  old  abuses  and  creating  new,  and  by 
seeking  to  aggrandize  to  itself,  regardless  of  the  public 
welfare,  as  many  powers  and  benefits  as  it  could  grasp, 
spread  through  the  whole  official  framework  of  the 


House  of  Burgesses :  General  Spirit  493 

Colony  the  like  spirit  of  selfishness  and  indifference 
to  popular  complaints.  It  was  this  spirit,  largely- 
attributable  as  it  was  to  the  Long  Assembly,  which 
was  the  principal  cause  of  the  Insurrection  of  1676, 
a  movement  that  would  have  occurred  sooner  or  later, 
whether  or  not  there  had  been  Indian  aggression  to 
start  it.  The  popular  bitterness  against  the  Governor 
and  Assembly  had  been  steadily  increasing  for  at  least 
ten  years;  and  along  with  it,  went  an  almost  equally 
strong  feeling  directed  against  all  other  local  bodies 
possessing  authority,  which  had  taken  their  cue  from 
these  officials.1 

The  whole  fury  of  the  people  at  large  in  their  resent- 
ment against  oppression  seemed  to  be  concentrated 
in  Bacon's  order  to  his  men  on  a  memorable  occasion 
to  aim  the  muzzles  of  their  guns  at  the  windows  of 
the  apartment  in  which  the  Burgesses  were  sitting; 
and  also  in  his  threat  that,  should  a  commission  to 
lead  an  expedition  against  the  Indians  be  refused  him, 
he  would  have  the  Burgesses'  "hearts'  blood,"  a 
menace  he  accompanied  with  what  the  chronicler  of 
the  scene  describes  as  "dreadful  newly  coined  oaths," 
uttered  in  such  profusion  "as  if  he  thought  God  would 
be  delighted  with  that  kind."2  The  outraged  feeling 
of  the  mass  of  the  Virginians  found  expression  in  the 
laws  of  what  has  long  been  designated  as  Bacon's 
Assembly,  the  immediate  successor  of  the  Long  Assem- 
bly, and  destined  always  to  stand  in  the  most  honorable 

»  The  arbitrary  conduct  of  the  vestries  has  already  been  pointed 
out.  Perhaps  the  most  remarkable  statement  of  the  various 
forms  of  oppression  which  the  people  had  to  suffer  during  the 
existence  of  the  Long  Assembly  is  embodied  in  the  series  of  griev- 
ances presented  to  the  English  Commissioners  after  the  collapse 
of  the  Insurrection. 

2  British  Colonial  Papers,  vol.  xxxvii.,  Doct.  16. 


494  Political  Condition 

contrast  with  the  latter  body.  Its  Acts  reflect  unmis- 
takably its  fixed  determination  to  remove  every  abuse 
and  rectify  every  wrong  under  which  the  people  were 
languishing.  Had  the  theatre  upon  which  this  Assem- 
bly met  been  that  of  a  nation  instead  of  that  of  a  small 
colony  in  a  remote  part  of  the  world,  its  spirit  and  its 
measures  would  long  ago  have  won  an  extraordinary 
fame  in  history,  and  the  legislators  themselves  would 
have  enjoyed  a  universal  reputation  as  among  the 
wisest  and  most  patriotic  who  have  been  called  on 
to  pass  laws  in  a  great  crisis. 

The  Insurrection  of  1676  closed  in  a  sudden  collapse, 
followed  by  bloody  reprisals,  but  the  sturdy  spirit 
in  which  it  had  its  origin  was  far  from  being  extin- 
guished. That  spirit  was  reflected  on  many  subse- 
quent occasions  in  the  attitude  of  the  House,  a  body 
not  the  less  determined  because  it  could  not  hope  to 
be  always  successful  in  its  aims.  The  official  relations 
of  the  Burgesses  with  Culpeper  and  Howard,  who 
were  pliant  and  submissive  tools  of  their  royal  masters, 
was  a  prolonged  struggle  against  greedy  impositions 
and  illegal  innovations.  Unlike  Berkeley,  these  two 
Governors  were  not  supported  by  the  members  of 
the  highest  social  class  as  represented  in  the  Assembly; 
on  the  contrary,  the  whole  of  that  body  seems  to  have, 
at  times  at  least,  presented  a  common  front  against 
their  encroachments  upon  popular  rights.  Men  who 
had  countenanced  Berkeley  in  his  oppressions,  and 
stood  by  him  in  the  conflict  with  Bacon,  turned  against 
Culpeper  and  Howard  with  a  firmness  and  courage, 
and  an  indifference  to  consequences,  worthy  of  those 
persons  who  had  staked  their  lives  and  fortunes  on 
the  issue  of  the  Insurrection  of  1676.  Berkeley's 
attitude  towards  the  Assembly  was  that  of  a  leader 


House  of  Burgesses :  General  Spirit  495 

among  equals,  who,  although  entertaining  extreme 
views  of  his  official  rights  and  powers,  had  yet  been  long 
identified  with  the  Colony,  and  had  given  many  proofs 
of  his  devotion  to  its  interests,  and  of  his  jealousy  of 
its  honor.  The  attitude  of  Culpeper  and  Howard,  on 
the  other  hand,  was  simply  that  of  two  schoolmasters 
puffed  up  with  a  sense  of  their  super' ority  in  knowledge 
and  wisdom  over  their  unruly  and  fractious  pupils; 
and  this  unwarranted  arrogance  undoubtedly  greatly 
stimulated  the  irritation  primarily  caused  by  their 
efforts  to  extend  the  royal  prerogative,  and  by  their 
use  of  very  questionable  means  to  increase  their  own 
incomes.1 

The  firm  and  courageous  spirit  shown  during  the 
latter  part  of  the  century  by  the  Burgesses  as  guardians 
of  the  public  welfare  may  be  illustrated  by  a  more 
particular  reference  to  instances  of  their  resentment 
of  the  aggressions  by  Governor  and  King.  In  April, 
1677,  the  different  records  of  the  House  were  forcibly 
taken  possession  of  by  two  of  the  English  Commis- 
sioners, Berry  and  Morryson.  These  records  were  at 
the  time  in  charge  of  Robert  Beverley,  the  clerk  of 
that  body.  In  the  following  October,  the  House 
appealed  to  the  third  Commissioner,  Col.  Herbert 
Jeffreys,  now  serving  as  Governor,  for  their  return, 
on  the  ground  that  their  seizure  and  their  detention 
alike  were  illegal.     The  Commissioners,  in  the  orig- 

1  In  his  address  to  the  House  of  Burgesses,  Oct.  9,  1685,  Howard 
spoke  as  follows:  "Gentlemen,  I  have  observed  in  very  many  of 
your  lawes  that  fines  and  forfeitures  are  to  be  accounted  for  to  ye 
Publique,  a  name  certainly  most  odious  under  a  regal  government, 
and  that  which  in  name,  so  in  consequence,  differs  but  little  from 
that  detestable  one,  Republick,  which  I  am  very  much  persuaded 
you  all  soe  really  abhor  that  you  will  remove  anything  which  in 
the  least  relates  to  it,"  etc.;  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1682-95,  P-  2^9- 


496  Political  Condition 

inal  warrant  authorizing  the  removal  of  the  records, 
had  asserted  that  the  right  to  take  such  a  step  had  been 
conferred  on  them  by  the  royal  instructions,  stamped 
with  the  great  seal.  The  House  in  their  reply  had  de- 
nied that  any  previous  King  had  ever  directed  or 
approved  such  a  violation  of  their  privileges;  and  they 
seem  to  have  expressed  some  doubt  as  to  whether  such 
a  power  was  really  contained  in  the  present  commission. 
In  seeking  Jeffreys'  intervention,  as  already  stated, 
the  Burgesses  urged  him  to  obtain  for  them  the  satis- 
faction of  knowing  that  no  such  encroachment  on 
their  rights  would  be  repeated  in  the  future;  Jeffreys 
sent  the  appeal  to  Morryson,  who  happened  at  this 
time  to  be  visiting  England;  Morryson  enclosed  it 
to  the  Secretary  of  State,  with  the  request  that  it 
should  be  submitted  to  the  Commissioners  of  Trade 
and  Plantations  as  a  proof  of  the  extraordinary  "arro- 
gance of  the  Virginian  authorities. "  In  a  second  letter, 
Morryson  stated  that  their  commission  had  been  read 
not  only  to  Beverley  before  the  delivery  of  the  records 
was  demanded,  but  also,  on  their  first  arrival  in  Vir- 
ginia, to  Berkeley;  and  subsequently,  when  the  Com- 
missioners had  held  their  first  sitting,  it  had  been 
proclaimed  to  the  public1 ;  the  House,  he  asserted,  was, 
therefore,  fully  informed  as  to  the  Commissioners' 
authority  in  seizing  the  records,  and  yet,  in  the  face 
of  the  King's  mandate,  had  dared  to  make  so  pre- 
sumptuous a  protest.  Later  on,  there  was  an  attempt 
to  seize  the  same  records  in  order  to  expunge  a  resolu- 
tion adopted  by  the  House  in  condemnation  of  this 
violation  of  their  privileges;  Beverley,  who  was  still 
in  charge,  refused  to  deliver  them  to  the  Governor 

»  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1681-85,  p.  11;  British  Colonial  Papers, 
vol.  xlii.,  Nos.  138,  139,  138,  I. 


House  of  Burgesses :  General  Spirit  497 

and  Council  as  commanded,  on  the  ground  that  he 
could  not  legally  do  this  "without  leave  of  the  Bur- 
gesses, his  masters";  and  he  preferred  to  go  to  prison 
rather  than  to  outrage  his  sense  of  duty.1 

The  Burgesses,  in  1684,  boldly  rebuked  Howard  for 
sending  a  communication  to  them  touching  a  resolu- 
tion of  the  House,  of  which  he  had  received  private 
information,  presumably  from  a  member  of  that  body.2 
Reference  has  already  been  made  to  the  firmness  with 
which  they,  in  1685,  disputed  the  Governor's  authority 
to  veto  the  Acts  passed  by  the  General  Assembly.3 
They  showed  equal  firmness  in  opposing  the  position 
taken  by  that  officer  that  he  was  impowered,  with  the 
King's  consent,  to  revive  any  statute  which  had  been 
repealed,  merely  by  issuing  his  proclamation;  indeed, 
so  exasperated  were  the  Burgesses  by  this  assertion 
of  right  that  they  addressed  the  King  directly  on  the 
subject,  and  having  condemned  the  claim  as  repug- 
nant to  established  usage,  they  begged  that  no  law 
thereafter  should  be  revived  until  the  General  Assem- 
bly's reasons  for  repealing  it  had  been  reported  in  full 
in  England.4 

Howard,  in  1687,  again  complained  to  the  Privy 
Council  that  the  Assembly  "rudely  and  boldly"  dis- 
puted the  royal  authority  to  repeal  laws  by  proclama- 
tion.    The  King,  it  seems,  had  only  recently  directed 

»  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  iii.,  p.  458;  see  also  Campbell's  History 
of  Virginia,  p.  335,  and  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  iii.,  p.  40. 

2  Minutes  of  Assembly,  April  16,  1684,  Colonial  Entry  Book, 
1682-95. 

3  See  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  iii.,  p.  40. 

4  British  Colonial  Papers,  vol.  Iii.,  No.  103.  The  statute  pre- 
scribing attorney's  fees  had  been  repealed  by  the  General  Assembly 
in  1683,  but  the  original  measure  was  revived  by  Howard's  procla- 
mation issued  at  the  command  of  the  King,  who  had  vetoed  the 
repealing  Act. 

vol.  11 — 32 


498  Political  Condition 

the  annulment  in  this  manner  of  the  Act  allowing  the 
planters  to  pay  their  quit-rents  in  the  form  of  tobacco. 
1 '  I  sent  for  the  Burgesses, "  Howard  wrote, ' '  and  showed 
them  his  Majesty's  command,  and  offered  them  the 
opportunity  to  express  their  duty  to  his  Majesty  by 
repealing  that  law,  but  they  would  not."1  The 
emotions  of  the  same  body  of  men  may  be  conceived 
when  Howard  read  to  them  the  royal  instruction  that 
all  grants  of  money  to  the  Governor,  Deputy-Governor, 
or  Commander-in-Chief,  should  state  that  these  grants 
were  made  to  the  King  with  the  Assembly's  ''humble 
desire"  that  they  should  be  applied  to  the  use  specially 
designated.2 

Nicholson's  instructions  in  1699,  on  his  recent 
appointment  to  the  Government,  were  submitted  to 
the  House  sitting  as  a  Committee  of  the  Whole.  It 
was  declared  in  one  of  the  clauses  that  all  Acts  passed 
for  the  Colony's  good  government  should  be  expressed 
indefinitely  as  to  the  time  they  were  designed  to  cover, 
unless  the  ends  sought  to  be  accomplished  were  purely 
temporary.  The  only  remark  on  this  clause  made  by 
the  Burgesses  was  that  the  Assembly  had  been  long 
in  the  habit  of  doing  this,  as  plainly  the  necessary  as 
well  as  the  most  convenient  course  to  pursue.3  The 
dryness  of  this  commentary,  and  indeed  any  commen- 
tary at  all,  would  have  aroused  the  indignation  of 
such  men  as  Culpeper  and  Howard,  who  exercised 
their  private  discretion  in  disclosing  their  instructions 
even  to  the  members  of  their  own  respective  Councils; 


1  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1685-90,  pp.  125,  126. 

2  Instructions  to  Howard,  1685,  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1685-90, 
p.   26. 

3  Minutes  of  House  of  Burgesses,  May  22,  1699,  B.  T.  Va.,  vol. 
Hi. 


House  of  Burgesses :  General  Spirit  499 

and  who  would  have  considered  an  opinion  on 
the  wisdom  of  these  instructions  coming  from  the 
Assembly  as  an  impertinence  amounting  almost  to 
disloyalty. 


CHAPTER  XXX 
The  General  Assembly 

THE  General  Assembly  from  its  earliest  session 
was  composed,  not  only  of  the  House  of  Bur- 
gesses sitting  as  a  Lower  Chamber,  but  also 
of  the  Governor  and  Council  sitting  as  an  Upper. 
As  has  been  already  pointed  out,  the  Governor  and 
Council  in  the  beginning  enjoyed  some  of  the  powers 
of  a  single  legislative  body.  From  the  creation  of 
the  House  of  Burgesses,  they  were  associated  with 
that  body  somewhat  in  the  character  of  a  modern 
Senate.  In  162 1,  Wyatt's  Instructions,  which  par- 
took so  largely  of  the  nature  of  a  written  constitution, 
expressly  authorized  the  summoning  of  a  General 
Assembly,  made  up,  on  the  one  hand,  of  elected  represen- 
tatives of  the  people,  and,  on  the  other,  of  the  Governor 
and  Council;  and  its  decisions  were  to  be  shaped  en- 
tirely by  the  votes  of  a  majority  of  the  members  present. 
The  Governor  himself  possessed  only  a  negative  voice. 
Apparently,  for  many  years,  the  Upper  House  sat  in 
the  same  apartment  as  the  Lower,  and  at  the  same 
time.1  During  the  period  of  the  Commonwealth, 
however,  it  is  to  be  inferred  that  the  two  bodies  did 

»  Beverley  states  that  this  custom  prevailed  until  Culpeper's 
administration;  see  his  History  of  Virginia,  p.  187.  For  Instruc- 
tions to  Wyatt,  see  Randolph  MS.,  vol.  iii.,  p.  160. 

500 


The  General  Assembly  501 

not  sit  together,  as  the  Burgesses  had  adopted  a  regu- 
lation to  discuss  all  laws  in  private  before  submitting 
them  to  the  Upper  House  for  adoption  or  rejection.1 
When  the  Upper  House  began  to  sit  apart,  the  Gover- 
nor was  generally,  although  not  always,  present  at  its 
meetings.2 

Did  the  Council  sitting  as  an  Upper  Chamber  possess 
the  right  to  originate  legislation?  Whatever  the 
powers  of  this  body  previous  to  1666,  it  had  certainly 
acquired  by  that  date  the  right  to  amend  the  Acts 
coming  up  from  the  House.  The  right  of  concurrence 
or  rejection,  and  the  right  of  amendment  seem  to  have 
been  the  limit  of  its  powers.3  The  Governor  was  ap- 
parently authorized  to  suggest  to  the  House  the  passage 
of  special  laws4;  but  no  proof  exists  that  any  legis- 
lation ever  began  in  the  Upper  Chamber.  There  seem 
to  have  been  numerous  conferences  held  between  the 
Governor  and  Council,  in  their  character  as  the  Upper 
House,  on  the  one  side,  and  the  Burgesses,  in  their 
character  as  the  Lower,  on  the  other;  but  this  was 
almost  always  done  through  the  intermediation  of 
committees  appointed  by  the  two  bodies.5 

■  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  i.,  p.  497. 

2  "Governor  sits  commonly  in  Upper  House";  see  Hartwell's 
Replies  to  Inquiries  of  English  Commissioners,  B.  T.  Va.,  1697, 
vol.  vi.,  p.  145;  see  also  Present  State  of  Virginia,  16Q7-8,  Section 
vi. 

3  "Upon  reading  the  Governor  and  Council's  approbation  with 
the  alterations  annexed,  they  were  all  gratefully  assented  to." 
Acts  of  Assembly  Nov.  6,  1666,  Randolph  MS.,  vol.  iii.,  p.  298; 
see  also  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  ii.,  p.  254.  An  example  of  the  man- 
ner in  which  additions  were  made  by  the  Upper  House  will  be  found 
in  B.  T.  Va.,  1691,  No.  29. 

4  See,  for  instance,  B.  T.  Va.,  1691,  No.  29. 

5  "The  Assembly  they  conclude  themselves  entitled  to  all  the 
rights  and  privileges  of  an  English  Parliament  and  begin  to  search 
in  the  records  of  that  Honorable  House  for  Precedents  to  govern 


502  Political  Condition 

The  General  Assembly  showed  an  unfailing  deter- 
mination to  preserve  its  authority  over  the  minds  of 
the  people  at  large,  and,  in  consequence,  it  did  not 
hesitate  to  inflict  severe  punishment  upon  any  one 
who  ventured  to  reflect  on  its  proceedings.  Francis 
Willis,  in  1640,  condemned  the  laws  of  the  last  General 
Assembly  as  repugnant  to  justice;  and  he  also  spoke 
in  harsh  terms  of  the  Gloucester  bench.  The  General 
Court,  taking  cognizance  of  his  words,  considered  to 
be  the  more  inexcusable  because  he  was  the  clerk  of 
that  county,  and  also  a  practising  attorney,  sentenced 
him  to  stand  at  the  door  of  the  court-house  with  a 
placard  attached  to  his  head  announcing  his  offence; 
deprived  him  of  his  clerkship  and  attorney's  license; 
and  required  him  to  pay  a  fine  of  twenty-eight  pounds 
sterling,  and  to  suffer  imprisonment  during  the  pleasure 
of  the  Governor.1  A  proclamation  of  Nicholson, 
issued  in  1690,  commanded  the  grand  juries  to  indict 
all  persons  who  spoke  with  contempt  of  the  laws  of 
Virginia.2  Whoever  ventured  to  raise  doubts  as  to 
whether  the  people  of  the  Colony  were  bound  to  obey 
every  statute  was  declared  to  be  "factious  and  se- 
ditious," and  for  the  first  offence  was  fined,  and  for 
the  second,  fined  and  also  committed  to  jail.3 

themselves  by.     The  Council  have  vanity  enough  to  think  they 
almost  stand  upon  equal  terms  with  the  Right  Honorable  House 
of  Lords";  see  Col.  Quarry's  Memorial  to  Commissioners  of  Trade, 
1703,  Massachusetts  Hist.  Coll.,  vol.  vii.,  3rd  series,  p.  233. 
»  Robinson  Transcripts,  p.  28. 

2  B.  T.  Va.,  1690,  No.  3.  "Major  John  Tilney  saith  that  this 
day  when  the  late  Acts  of  Assembly  were  reading  over,  he  heard 
Henry  Boston  say  that  they  were  simple  foolish  things,  whereupon 
ye  said  deponent  reproved  him,  and  ye  said  Boston  demanded 
whether  he  did  it  out  of  envey,  and  further  saith  not";  Northamp- 
ton County  Records,  orig.  vol.  1657-64,  p.  72. 

3  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  ii.,  p.  501. 


The  General  Assembly  503 

No  Act  became  a  law  until  it  had  received  the  signa- 
tures of  the  Speaker  and  Governor.1  The  Company 
during  the  time  the  affairs  of  Virginia  were  administered 
by  it  was  impowered  to  allow  or  disallow,  as  should 
seem  proper,  each  statute  adopted  by  the  General 
Assembly;  but  until  the  Company's  pleasure  was 
known,  these  laws  remained  as  much  in  force  as  if  they 
had  already  been  favorably  considered  by  the  Quarter 
Court  in  England.  That  they  did  so  was  due  to  the 
urgent  request  of  the  General  Assembly  itself,  which 
declared  that,  unless  every  Act  became  operative 
immediately  after  its  passage,  "the  people  would 
grow  so  insolent  that  they  would  shake  off  all  govern- 
ment, and  there  would  be  no  living  among  them."2 
So  soon  as  the  King  was  reinstated  in  direct  control 
of  the  Colony,  the  power  to  veto  any  ordinance  of  the 
General  Assembly  failing  to  receive  his  approval  was 
fully  resumed  by  him;  but  apparently  the  existing 
rule  permitting  a  statute  to  be  put  in  force  at  once 
was  not  abrogated,  for,  in  1629,  Harvey  suggested  to 
the  Privy  Council  that  all  the  Acts  passed  by  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly  should  stand  simply  as  "propositions 
until  his  Majesty  should  be  pleased  under  the  great 
seal  to  ratify  the  same."  This  recommendation  seems 
to  have  been  favorably  considered,  since  the  Privy 
Council  instructed  him  to  transmit  to  England  for 
allowance  or  disallowance  a  copy  of  every  ordinance 
adopted  by  the  General  Assembly.  Those  that  should 
receive  the  royal  assent  were  to  pass  the  great  seal 

«  Declarations  of  the  General  Assembly  ran  as  follows:  "We,  the 
Governor,  Council,  and  Burgesses  of  this  Grand  Assembly";  see 
Randolph  MS.,  vol.  iii.,  p.  239,  and   also   Robinson  Transcripts, 

P-   i94. 

2  Acts  of  Assembly,  1619,  p.  31,  Colonial  Records  of  Virginia, 
State  Senate  Doct.,  Extra,  1874. 


504  Political  Condition 

and  then  be  returned  to  Virginia  for  permanent 
enforcement.1 

If  this  order  of  the  Privy  Council  changed  the  custom 
then  prevailing,  namely,  that  every  Act  was  to  be 
operative  from  its  passage  subject  to  final  approval 
or  annulment  by  the  English  authorities,  that  custom 
was  in  a  few  years  restored,  simply  because  it  had  had 
its  origin  in  the  necessities  of  the  situation,  growing, 
on  the  one  hand,  out  of  the  Colony's  remoteness  from 
London,  and  on  the  other,  out  of  sudden  conjunctions 
of  circumstances,  hostile  to  the  safety  of  the  people, 
which  could  only  be  met  by  laws  to  be  put  in  force 
at  once.  In  propounding  the  basis  of  a  new  charter 
in  1675,  Morryson,  Ludwell,  and  Smith,  the  agents  of 
Virginia  in  England  during  that  year,  declared  that 
the  inhabitants  of  the  Colony  entertained  no  objection 
to  the  King's  exercising  the  right  of  veto  provided  that 
his  disapproval  of  a  law  was  signified  to  the  General 
Assembly  within  the  first  two  years  following  its  pas- 
sage.2 A  failure  to  express  that  disapproval  before 
the  end  of  this  period,  they  urged,  ought  to  be  taken 
as  a  sign  of  assent;  and  such  was  the  rule  which  re- 
mained in  force  until  the  close  of  the  century.3 

In  order  that  the  King  might  be  informed  of  the 
tenor  of  new  laws  at  the  earliest  moment  practicable, 
so  soon  as  a  session  of  the  General  Assembly  came  to 
an  end,  copies  of  all  its  Acts  were  dispatched  to  England 
by  the  first  ship  thereafter  setting  sail.  It  seems,  as 
has  been  already  pointed  out,  to  have  been,  for  many 
years,  the  exclusive  duty  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Colony 
to  forward  them,  but  during  later  periods,  this  was 

•  British  Colonial  Papers,  vol.  v.,  Nos.  22,  23. 

*  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  ii.f  p.  527 ;  Randolph  MS.,  vol.  iii.,  p.  328. 
3  Beverley's  History  of  Virginia,  p.  191. 


The  General  Assembly  505 

also  done  by  the  clerk  of  the  House;  and  so  important 
was  this  duty  considered  to  be,  that  duplicate  copies 
of  the  laws  were  generally  sent,  addressed  either  to 
the  Privy  Council,  or  to  the  Board  of  Trade  and  Plan- 
tations.1 Howard  was  instructed  in  1685  to  have 
similar  copies  transmitted  within  three  months  after 
the  General  Assembly  adjourned;  and  he  was  also 
required  to  accompany  them  with  recommendations 
as  to  such  alterations  as  he  considered  to  be  advisable. 
The  same  order  was  given  to  Andros  at  a  later  date.2 
This  Governor,  in  1698,  offered  an  apology  to  the 
English  Secretary  of  State  for  "ye  rude  dress  ye  laws 
were  put  in. "  It  was  impossible,  he  asserted,  to 
forward  them  in  a  handsome  form,  since  there  were 
neither  towns  nor  tradesmen  to  supply  what  was 
needed.3 

So  soon  as  the  Acts  of  the  last  General  Assembly 
reached  the  hands  of  the  Board  of  Trade  and  Plan- 
tations (to  which  they  were,  as  a  rule,  first  consigned), 
they  were  submitted  by  that  body  to  the  Attorney- 
General  for  his  opinion  as  to  their  validity  from  a  legal 
point  of  view.  The  statutes  relating  to  trade  and  the 
royal  revenues,  if  open  to  no  legal  objection,  were  then 
submitted  to  the  Commissioners  of  the  Customs,  who 
had  to  decide  whether  they  were  repugnant  to  the 
commercial  and  financial  interests  of  the  kingdom; 
such  Acts,  for  instance,  were  those  passed  to  encourage 

•  In  1638,  Secretary  Kemp  sent  to  England  a  report  of  the  Pro- 
ceedings of  the  General  Assembly,  with  copies  of  the  most  recent 
laws  which  that  body  had  adopted.  Secretary  Spencer  frequently 
followed  this  example;  see,  for  an  instance  of  the  performance  of 
this  duty  by  the  clerk,  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1681-85,  p.  308. 

2  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1685-90,  p.  24;  B.  T.  Va.,  1692,  Entry- 
Book,  vol.  xxxvi.,  p.  109. 

*  B.  T.  Va.,  1698,  vol.  vi.,  p.  361. 


506  Political  Condition 

town  building  in  Virginia,  to  promote  the  growth  of 
woolen  and  linen  manufactures  there,  and  to  prohibit 
the  exportation  of  iron,  wool,  and  skins.1  Having 
first  taken  time  to  consider  the  probable  effect  of 
such  new  laws,  the  Commissioners  were  then  required 
to  attend  a  meeting  of  the  Board  of  Trade,  and  in 
person  to  report  their  conclusions.  In  general,  they 
were  unfavorable  to  such  laws,  and  advised  their 
annulment.2  Sometimes,  however,  they  suggested 
important  modifications  only;  and  their  recommen- 
dations were  transmitted  by  the  Board  of  Trade  to 
the  General  Assembly  to  guide  that  body  in  reframing 
the  Act  disapproved  of  in  part.  Until  this  was  done, 
the  operation  of  the  original  Act  was  suspended.3 

Should  the  Attorney-General  decide  that  the  statute 
submitted  to  him  for  his  opinion  ought  to  be  repealed 
because  invalid  from  a  legal  point  of  view,  an  order 
was  dispatched  to  the  Governor  to  issue  his  proclama- 

1  B.  T.  Va.,  Entry  Book,  vol.  xxxvi.,  p.  238;  Colonial  Entry  Book, 
vol.  1681-85,  p.  4. 

2  The  following  gives  the  reason  on  which  their  recommendation 
of  annulment  was  generally  based :  ' '  Whereas  in  the  Act  of  Trade, 
it  is  declared  that  in  regard  his  Majesty's  Plantations  beyond  seas 
are  inhabited  and  peopled  by  his  subjects  of  this  his  Kingdom  of 
England  for  maintaining  a  greater  correspondence  and  kindness 
between  them,  and  keeping  them  in  a  firmer  dependence  upon  it, 
and  rendering  them  yet  more  beneficial  and  advantageous  unto  it 
in  the  further  employment  and  increase  of  shipping  and  seamen, 
vent  of  English  woollen  and  other  manufactures  and  commoditys, 
rendering  the  navigation  to  and  from  the  same  more  safe  and  cheap, 
and  making  this  Kingdom  a  staple,  not  only  of  the  commoditys 
of  the  Plantations,  but  also  of  the  commoditys  of  other  countries 
and  places  for  the  supplying  of  them,  &c,"  to  all  or  some  of  which 
the  measure  passed  upon  was  declared  repugnant;  see  Colonial  En- 
try Book  1681-85,  P-  242- 

3  See  Andros's  Proclamation  to  that  effect  in  Essex  County 
Records,  vol.  1692-95,  p.  282,  Va.  St.  Libr. 


The  General  Assembly  507 

tion  at  once  announcing  that  the  statute  had  been 
annulled;  and  this  was  also  the  course  pursued  when- 
ever the  Commissioners  of  Customs  condemned  a  law 
of  the  Colony  as  repugnant  to  the  commercial  interests 
of  the  realm.1  On  one  occasion,  Culpeper,  by  a  single 
proclamation,  repealed  as  many  as  six  Acts  of  Assem- 
bly, which  had  failed  to  receive  the  approval  of  the 
English  authorities.2  Every  proclamation  of  this 
kind,  with  a  view  to  ensuring  its  publicity,  was  read 
at  least  once  from  the  bench  during  the  sessions  of 
the  different  county  courts;  from  the  pulpits  of  all  the 
churches  and  chapels-of-ease  after  the  congregations 
had  assembled;  and  publicly  at  the  several  musters 
of  the  militia.3 

1  The  order  required  the  Governor  and  Council  to  instruct  the 
Attorney-General  of  the  Colony  to  draw  up  a  proclamation  signi- 
fying the  King's  wishes  as  to  the  Acts  disapproved  of;  see  B.  T. 
Va.,  1692,  No.  128. 

2  British  Colonial  Papers,  vol.  xlv. 

3  See  for  an  instance  York  County  Records,  vol.  1694-7,  p.  23, 
Va.  St.  Libr. 


CHAPTER  XXXI 
General  Assembly:   Revised  Acts 

AT  various  times  during  the  Seventeenth  century, 
the  laws  of  the  Colony  were  subjected  to  a 
careful  review.  An  instance  of  double  re- 
vision occurred  in  1656,  when  the  General  Assembly 
directed  that  the  statutes,  which  had  been  revised 
already  at  least  once,  should  be  ''digested  into  one 
volume."  This  was  really  an  attempt  to  codify  the 
Acts  in  the  most  succinct  form  of  which  they  were 
capable.1  About  twelve  years  afterwards,  the  same 
body  adopted  a  resolution  calling  for  a  complete  re- 
view of  the  entire  text  of  the  Colony's  laws,  the  object 
of  which  seems  to  have  been  of  a  twofold  nature: — 
first,  to  purge  the  statute  book  of  all  Acts  no  longer 
of  use;  and  secondly,  to  remove  all  those  serving  to 
keep  alive  recollection  of  the  Commonwealth  and  the 
former  supremacy  of  the  King's  enemies.  The  pre- 
amble of  this  resolution  stated  that  so  many  and  such 
sudden  changes  of  government  had  followed  in  conse- 
quence of  the  late  distractions,  and  so  many  alterations 
of  the  statutes  had  accompanied  these  changes,  that 
the  people  were  in  a  state  of  bewilderment  as  to  what 
ordinances  they  should  obey,  and  the  judges  as  to 
what  offences  they  should  punish.     The  aim  of  the 

1  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  i.,  p.  427. 

508 


General  Assembly :  Revised  Acts     509 

new  revision  was  to  follow  the  laws  of  England  as 
closely  as  the  "capacity  and  constitutions"  of  Vir- 
ginia would  permit.  The  chief  part  in  this  important 
work  seems  to  have  been  performed  by  Col.  Francis 
Morryson,  with  whom  was  associated  Henry  Ran- 
dolph, a  citizen  who  had  enjoyed  an  extended 
experience  both  as  a  clerk  of  court  and  as  an  at- 
torney.1 As  these  revised  statutes  were  printed, 
they  were  popularly  referred  to  as  the  "Printed 
Laws."2 

The  collection  of  statutes  known  as  "Purvis's  Laws" 
was  printed  sometime  previous  to  1684.  In  the  spring 
of  that  year,  the  House  Committee  on  Propositions 
and  Grievances  submitted  a  report  on  this  collection, 
in  which  they  pronounced  it  to  be  "very  false  and 
imperfect";  and  in  consequence  of  this  condemnation, 
the  Burgesses  requested  the  Governor  and  Council 
to  suppress  the  volume.  It  had  been  published  by 
Captain  John  Purvis,  commander  of  the  ship  Duke  of 
York,  who  had  imported  into  the  Colony  a  large 
number  of  copies  for  sale,  a  fact  which  aroused  the 
warm  indignation  of  the  Assembly;  in  a  short  time,  he 
was  summoned  to  appear  before  that  body  to  answer 
for  his  "misdemeanour"  in  issuing,  without  first  pro- 
curing a  license,  a  book  of  such  great  importance. 
The  Burgesses  declared  that,  in  its  existing  form,  it  was 
well  calculated  to  bring  "scandall  and  contempte" 
on  the  administration  of  the  Colony's  affairs;  and  the 
Governor  and  Council  seem  to  have  shared  this  opinion, 


1  See  Beverley's  History  of  Virginia;  also  Campbell's  History  of 
Virginia,  p.  254. 

2  Among  the  articles  sold  at  outcry  by  the  Widow  Creed  in  1668 
was  the  Printed  Lowes  of  Virginia;  see  Surry  County  Records, 
vol.  1645-72,  p.  342,  Va.  St.  Libr. 


5io  Political  Condition 

for  they  promptly  published  an  order  that  no  county 
court  would  be  permitted  to  use  the  book. 1 

The  need  of  a  careful  revision  of  the  laws  soon  became 
pressing.  About  1687,  a  select  committee,  composed 
of  Secretary  Spencer  and  Colonels  John  Page  and 
Philip  Ludwell  were  appointed  by  the  Governor  and 
Council  to  carry  out  this  important  work;  which  seems 
to  have  been  done  with  energy,  for  in  October  of  that 
year,  their  report  was  submitted;  but  its  immediate 
consideration  was  deferred  on  account  of  the  sickness 
of  two  of  the  commission's  members.  Before  the  end 
of  the  following  year,  their  revision  had  been  adopted 
by  the  General  Assembly,  and  a  copy  had  been  handed 
to  the  Board  of  Trade  and  Plantations  in  England  by 
Howard  in  person.2  This  copy  passed  through  the 
press  soon  after  its  arrival  in  England.  In  May,  169 1, 
the  Council  in  Virginia  appropriated  for  the  benefit 
of  Colonel  Page  fifteen  shillings  in  return  for  a  printed 
volume  of  these  revised  Acts,  and  also  for  a  collection 
in  ordinary  handwriting  of  all  laws  framed  after  the 
revision  had  been  made.  It  is  probable  that  Page  had 
undertaken  the  task  of  codifying  these  supplementary 
statutes,  for  the  transcription  of  which  Alexander 
Boneman  and  Mr.  Edwards  were  paid  four  pounds 
and  one  pound  sterling  respectively.3 

Apparently  during  the  early  part  of  1692,  complete 
sets  of  the  Colony's  laws,  carefully  digested  and  ac- 
curately written  out,  were  dispatched  to  England,  where 
they  seem  to  have  been  printed  immediately  after  they 
had  been  examined  and  approved  by  the  authorities. 

1  Minutes  of  House  of  Burgesses,  April  16,  1684,  Colonial  Entry- 
Book,  1682-95,  P-  x34-  The  Governor  and  Council  in  interfering 
were,  no  doubt,  acting  in  their  capacity  as  the  General  Court. 

2  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1680-95,  pp.  255,  311. 

3  Minutes  of  Council,  May  11,  1691,  B.  T.  Va.,  1691,  No.  29. 


General  Assembly:  Revised  Acts     511 

This  codification,  however,  did  not  give  entire  satis- 
faction in  Virginia,  for,  in  March,  1692-3,  Richard 
Lee,  the  elder  William  Byrd,  John  Lear,  and  Edward 
Hill,  members  of  the  Council  at  that  time,  were  nomi- 
nated to  confer  with  a  similar  committee  to  be  ap- 
pointed by  the  House,  on  the  subject  of  the  revision 
of  the  existing  statutes.1  This  action  led  to  nothing 
previous  to  May,  1695,  for,  in  the  course  of  that  year, 
a  number  of  other  conferences  were  held  and  many 
suggestions  were  made  having  the  same  general  object 
in  view.  It  was  proposed  by  the  Governor  and  Coun- 
cil, for  instance,  that  the  joint  committee  should  be 
composed  of  three  Councillors  and  four  Burgesses,  a 
quorum  to  consist  of  one  Councillor  and  three  members 
of  the  House;  that  this  committee  as  a  whole  should 
convene  at  Jamestown;  and  that  each  of  its  members 
should  receive  a  daily  stipend  of  fifteen  shillings.  The 
House  declined  to  give  its  assent  to  this  proposition; 
but  a  few  days  later,  selected  six  of  its  own  number 
to  act  as  revisors  at  a  salary  respectively  of  one  hundred 
and  thirty  pounds  of  tobacco  daily.  These  six  com- 
mittee-men had  obtained  the  highest  number  of  votes 
when  the  question  as  to  who  should  be  appointed  was 
submitted  to  the  suffrage  of  the  members.2 

Practically,  nothing  was  accomplished  at  this  time, 
for  only  two  years  afterwards,  the  Board  of  Trade  and 
Plantations,  in  a  letter  to  Governor  Andros,  commented 
with  severity  on  the  disorder  and  contradictions  into 
which  the  laws  of  Virginia  had  been  permitted  to  fall; 

1  Minutes  of  Assembly,  April  5,  1692,  Colonial  Entry  Book, 
1682-95;  Minutes  of  Council,  March  17,  1692-3,  Colonial  Entry 
Book,  1682-Qq. 

2  Minutes  of  Assembly,  May  2,  8,  14,  1695,  Colonial  Entry  Book, 
1682-95. 


512  Political  Condition 

it  is  possible  that  the  Board  formed  this  impression 
from  an  examination  of  the  revised  statutes  probably- 
sent  to  England  after  the  work  of  the  committees 
of  1695  had  been  completed.  They  pointedly  criti- 
cized the  recent  course  of  the  Colony's  authorities  in 
dispatching  copies  of  the  Acts  in  separate  parcels,  each 
copy  representing  only  a  part  of  those  in  operation, 
instead  of  forwarding  copies  of  the  whole  body  of  Acts 
at  that  time  in  force.  Andros  was  instructed  to  send 
over  a  complete  set  of  the  laws  then  in  existence,  with 
recommendations  as  to  their  alteration  in  whatever 
particulars  should  appear  to  him  to  require  a 
change.1 

So  urgent  had  a  review  of  the  laws  become  by  1699 
that  the  General  Assembly,  in  the  course  of  that  year, 
was  called  together  in  special  session  to  make  the  neces- 
sary provision  for  the  work.  When  the  body  met, 
Nicholson  having  first  addressed  it  respecting  the  pur- 
pose of  its  convening,  the  question  came  up  as  to  what 
should  be  the  representation  of  each  chamber  on  the 
committee  to  which  the  task  of  revision  was  to  be 
assigned.  The  House  proposed  that  the  Council  should 
nominate  three  of  the  members,  and  the  House  itself 
six;  and  this  suggestion  seems  to  have  been  accepted 
after  some  debate.  No  action  could  be  legally  taken 
by  this  body  in  framing  the  laws  unless  two  Councillors 
and  four  Burgesses  participated,  but  any  three  of 
its  members  were  impowered  to  summon  witnesses, 
and  to  send  for  papers  and  copies  of  records.  All 
citizens  who  happened  to  be  in  possession  of  documents 
relating  to  the  first  settlement  of  the  country  were 
requested  to  submit  them  to  the  examination  of  the 

1  See  the  Board  of  Trade's  Letter  to  Andros,  dated  Sept.  2, 
1699,  B.  T.  Va.,  Entry  Book,  vol.  xxxvii.,  p.  86. 


General  Assembly:  Revised  Acts     513 

committee;  and  anyone  whatever  was  at  liberty  to 
come  before  that  body  while  in  session,  and  make 
suggestions  as  to  alterations  in  the  laws  then  in  force. 
Perfect  freedom  of  speech  at  the  committee's  sittings 
was  allowed  by  the  special  order  of  the  Governor. 
This  important  work  was  entrusted  to  Miles  Cary, 
John  Taylor,  Robert  Beverley,  Anthony  Armistead, 
Henry  Duke,  William  Buckner,  Bartholomew  Fowler, 
and  Benjamin  Harrison,  Jr.1 

As  early  in  the  community's  history  as  163 1-2,  the 
Acts  of  the  General  Assembly  were  required  to  be 
published  in  one  form  or  another  in  all  parts  of  the 
Colony.  The  ordinary  course  adopted  was  for  the 
justices  of  each  county  at  the  first  term  of  their  court 
following  the  close  of  a  session,  to  read  aloud  themselves 
or  to  cause  to  be  read  aloud  by  the  clerk,  copies  of  the 
whole  number  of  laws  passed  at  that  session ;  and  these 
copies  were  afterwards  filed  away,  but  were  always 
open  to  the  perusal  of  anyone  who  wished  to  examine 
them.2  The  minutes  contained  in  many  of  the  original 
records  show  the  presence  in  the  clerk's  offices  at  that 
time  of  such  copies;  for  instance,  among  the  papers 
received  by  Mr.  Hill,  the  new  clerk  of  Surry,  in  1673, 
were  the  "printed  and  written  Acts  of  Assembly."3 
One  of  the  most  frequent  expenses  entered  in  each 
county's  annual  levy  was  that  incurred  in  the  purchase 
of  a  transcript  of  the  laws  passed  by  the  last  General 
Assembly;  and  the  cost  of  this  transcript   amounted 

1  Minutes  of  Assembly,  May  18,  1699,  B.  T.  Va.,  vol.  Hi. ;  Revisal 
of  Va.  Laws,  1699,  B.  T.  Va.,  vol.  lii. ;  Letter  of  Governor  Nicholson, 
July,  1699,  B.  T.  Va.,  vol.  vii. 

2  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  i.,  p.  177;  see  also  Henrico  County 
Minute  Book,  Orders  May  16,  1692;  Essex  County  Records, 
Orders  April  10,  1693. 

3  Surry  County  Records,  vol.  1671-84,  p.  71,  Va.  St.  Libr. 


514  Political  Condition 

always  to  a  considerable  sum.1  Occasionally,  the  full 
text  of  a  statute  was  spread  on  the  minutes  of  the 
court's  proceedings,  and  thus  formed  a  part  of  its  per- 
manent records.2 

»  See  Essex  County  Records,  Levy,  Nov.  u,  1695. 

2  Essex  County  Records,  vol.  1692-95,  pp.  151-3,  Va.  St.  Libr. 


CHAPTER  XXXII 
General  Assembly:  By-Laws  and  Agents 

THE  General  Assembly  was,  from  an  early  date, 
impowered  to  grant  to  each  county  the  right 
to  adopt  by-laws  for  the  administration  of  its 
local  affairs.  This  was  perhaps  first  suggested  by  the 
remote  situation  of  the  region  of  country  known  as 
the  Eastern  Shore,  for  it  was  apparently  to  the  Eastern 
Shore  alone  that  this  important  privilege  was  allowed 
in  the  beginning.  In  1655,  the  people  of  Northampton 
county,  which  at  the  time  embraced  all  that  part  of 
this  peninsula  lying  within  the  bounds  of  Virginia, 
acquired  in  this  manner  the  right  to  "constitute  laws 
and  customs  among  themselves,  and  to  proceed  therein 
according  to  their  own  conveniences  not  repugnant 
to  the  laws  of  England."1  Five  years  afterwards,  the 
inhabitants  of  Gloucester  were  impowered  to  pass  from 
time  to  time  whatever  ordinances  they  should  think 
necessary  to  their  success  in  pursuing  and  recovering 
runaway  servants.2  All  counties  and  parishes  in- 
capable of  being  made  subject  to  the  scope  of  a  general 
Act  without  detriment  to  their  welfare,  were,  in  1662, 
permitted  to  pass  by-laws  better  calculated  to  meet 
their  peculiar  wants.     Such  by-laws,  which  were  to 

1  Randolph  MS.,  vol.  iii.,  p.  261. 

2  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  ii.,  p.  35. 

VOL.  11— 33  5*5 


516  Political  Condition 

be  as  binding  as  the  statutes  framed  by  the  General 
Assembly,  only  became  operative  after  they  had  re- 
ceived the  approval  of  a  majority  of  the  voters  residing 
in  the  districts  to  which  alone  they  were  designed  to 
be  applicable. l  One  year  after  this  power  was  granted, 
Northumberland,  a  county  divided  from  Maryland 
merely  by  the  Potomac  River,  and,  therefore,  offering 
unusual  facilities  to  discontented  servants  to  escape, 
adopted  a  very  strict  by-law  respecting  the  liberty 
hitherto  allowed  persons  of  this  class  to  leave  their 
master's  plantation  from  time  to  time.2  Northampton 
followed  its  example  by  drafting  more  stringent  regu- 
lations touching  the  branding  of  cattle.  The  manner 
in  which  this  was  done  was  perhaps  the  one  generally 
observed  at  this  period  on  the  Eastern  Shore:  the 
commander  of  every  company  of  militia  belonging  to 
the  county  was  ordered  to  assemble  his  men  and  to 
inform  them  in  a  body  that  a  certain  date  and  a  certain 
place  had  been  chosen  for  the  passage  of  the  proposed 
by-law ;  the  company  was  then  to  proceed  to  elect  two 
of  its  members,  who,  at  nine  o'clock  on  the  morning  of 
the  day  designated,  were  to  present  themselves  at  the 
place  appointed,  usually  the  county  seat,  and  there 
unite  with  the  justices  in  framing  the  desired  measure. 
It  is  possible  that  this  by-law  was  afterwards  submitted 
to  the  popular  voice  for  acceptance  or  rejection.3 

i  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  ii.,  p.  171. 

2  Northumberland  County  Records,  vol.  1652-66,  p.  189. 

3  Northampton  County  Records,  vol.  1664-74,  folio,  p.  5.  In 
1677-8,  each  county  was  authorized  to  pass  by-laws  relating  to 
the  destruction  of  wolves;  see  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1676-81, 
p.  163.  During  the  same  year,  by  the  authority  of  the  Act  of  1662, 
Middlesex  county  passed  a  by-law  to  prevent  the  striking  of  fish, 
as  this  method  wounded  more  than  it  killed,  and  it  diminished  the 
run  in  the  creeks;  see  Middlesex  County  Records,  vol.  1673-80, 
folio,  p.  97.     In  1685,  Captain  Thomas  Chamberlaine,  of  Henrico, 


General  Assembly:  By-Laws  and  Agents  517 

In  the  course  of  1679,  the  General  Assembly  laid 
down  a  special  rule  touching  the  manner  of  framing 
by-laws,  the  right  to  pass  which  had  been  again  re- 
newed in  favor  of  all  the  counties :  every  parish  in  the 
Colony  was  authorized  to  choose,  by  the  votes  of  a 
majority  of  its  freeholders  and  householders,  two 
representatives,  who,  having  taken  their  seats  on  the 
bench  of  the  county  court,  were  to  possess  an  equal 
voice  with  the  justices  in  the  adoption  of  such  laws. 
Should  a  county  embrace  but  one  parish,  four  repre- 
sentatives were  to  be  elected;  and  if  it  contained 
chapels-of-ease,  then  each  of  these  places  of  worship 
was  apparently  impowered  to  choose  an  additional 
representative.  It  would  seem  that  the  decisions  of 
this  joint  body  were  not  required  to  be  submitted  to 
the  people  for  approval.1 

The  burden  of  maintaining  forts  and  other  means 
of  defence  along  the  line  of  frontier  led,  about  this 
time,  as  already  stated  elsewhere,  to  the  adoption  of 
certain  offers  made  by  private  citizens  with  a  view 
to  the  protection  of  that  line  in  return  for  certain  im- 
portant advantages  granted  them;  the  chief  of  these 
was  the  bestowal  of  considerable  areas  of  land,  with 

was  charged  with  the  illegal  detention  of  a  mare,  "To  wch  he 
reply s  that  he  took  her  up  and  still  keeps  her,  supposing  her  his 
own,  that  he  hath  brought  her  to  public  view  at  Pucker's  Gutt  as 
ye  by-law  of  this  County  enjoyns";  see  Henrico  County  Minute 
Book,  1 682-1 701,  p.  120,  Va.  St.  Libr. 

*  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  ii.,  p.  441.  In  168 1,  Accomac  was  repre- 
sented by  six  persons  in  addition  to  its  justices  in  the  making  of 
its  by-laws;  this  was  because  there  were  two  chapels-of-ease  situated 
in  the  county;  see  Records,  vol.  1678-82.  It  would  seem  that, 
in  1666,  the  vestry  of  the  single  parish  at  that  time  embraced  in 
Accomac  met  at  the  county  seat  and  united  with  the  justices  in 
passing  such  laws  as  were  thought  necessary;  see  also  Lower 
Norfolk  County  Antiquary,  vol.  v.,  Part  I.,  p.  27. 


5*8  Political  Condition 

the  right  to  the  beneficiaries,  among  other  privileges, 
to  pass  by-laws  for  the  government  of  the  settlers; 
but  in  framing  such  laws,  the  principal  grantee  of 
each  tract  was  required  to  be  associated  with  two 
members  of  the  nearest  commission,  and  also  with  six 
representatives  chosen  by  the  inhabitants  of  the  par- 
ticular district.  One  of  these  tracts  was  situated  at 
Rappahannock  Fort,  and  the  other  at  the  Falls  of  the 
James;  the  first,  under  the  control  of  Major  Lawrence 
Smith;  the  second,  of  Col.  William  Byrd.1 

Howard  was,  in  1685,  ordered  to  see  to  the  passage 
of  an  Act  requiring  that  every  by-law,  before  it  could 
become  operative,  should  receive  the  approval  of  the 
Governor  and  Council;  but  the  General  Assembly 
apparently  only  consented  to  obey  after  the  King  had 
expressly  disallowed  a  statute  in  which  no  such  pro- 
vision was  inserted.2  The  objection  of  that  body  to 
the  change  probably  had  its  origin  in  the  feeling  on 
the  Burgesses'  part  that,  as  the  right  to  pass  by-laws 
granted  to  the  counties  was  a  mere  delegated  right 
of  the  General  Assembly  itself,  which  embraced  the 
Governor  and  Council  sitting  as  the  Upper  House,  it 
seemed  to  be  confining  to  one  chamber  the  right  of 
approval  or  disapproval  which  really  belonged  to 
both  chambers.  Nevertheless,  the  counties,  under 
this  altered  law,  continued  to  pass  by-laws;  and  such 
laws  continued  to  relate  generally  to  means  of  protecting 
property,  such  as  the  destruction  of  wolves,  the  con- 
finement of  wild  horses,  and  the  like.3 

1  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  ii.,  p.  448.  As  already  stated  elsewhere, 
it  is  probable  that  this  Act  was  disallowed  in  England. 

2  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1682-95,  p.  180;  ibid.,  1680-95,  p.  221; 
ibid.,  1685-90,  p.  52. 

3  Northumberland  County  Records,  vol.  1678-98,  p.  568;  Min- 
utes of  Assembly,  May  7,  1695,  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1682-95. 


General  Assembly:  By-Laws  and  Agents  519 

The  power  delegated  to  certain  persons  in  the  coun- 
ties to  represent  the  General  Assembly  in  passing 
by-laws  was  not  more  important  than  the  power 
delegated  to  special  agents  in  England  to  represent 
the  same  body  in  procuring  various  advantages  for 
the  benefit  of  the  Colony.  One  of  the  earliest  instances 
to  occur  was  that  of  John  Pountis,  a  member  of  the 
Council,  who,  when  he  was  about  to  set  out  for  London 
in  February,  1623-4,  was  requested  to  press  the  peo- 
pled general  needs  on  the  attention  of  the  King;  and 
in  return  for  such  an  important  service  at  so  critical 
a  moment,  he  was  to  receive,  towards  the  expenses 
of  his  long  journey,  four  pounds  of  tobacco  for  every 
male  tithable  to  be  found  at  this  time  in  Virginia. 
The  whole  sum  was  to  be  raised  by  a  public  levy.1 
A  similar  tax  was  imposed  in  1639  in  order  to  reward 
the  care,  and  pay  the  expenses,  of  agents  of  "quality 
and  experience,"  engaged  in  watching  the  Colony's 
interests,  apparently  in  England.2  A  generation  later, 
Sir  Henry  Chichely,  the  Deputy-Governor,  reluctantly 
admitted  that  the  agents  who,  from  time  to  time,  had 
been  employed  by  the  General  Assembly  in  London, 
had  failed  to  rise  to  the  public  expectation,  either 
through  unskilful  management  on  their  part,  or 
through  the  little  influence  possessed  by  the  persons 
they  had  engaged  to  assist  them.3 

In  spite  of  the  smallness  of  the  results^  of  previous 
missions,  which  perhaps  arose  more  from  the  selfish 
obduracy  of  the  English  Government  at  this  time  than 
from  the  inefficiency  or  supineness  of  the  agents  them- 

1  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  i.,  p.  127;  British  Colonial  Papers, 
1624-5,  No.  9. 

2  Robinson  Transcripts,  p.  232. 

3  British  Colonial  Papers,  vol.  xxx.,  No.  51. 


520  Political  Condition 

selves,  the  General  Assembly,  about  1674,  had  recourse 
to  the  same  means  as  the  only  hope  of  securing  a 
revocation  of  the  royal  grant  of  Virginia  to  Arlington 
and  Culpeper  made  in  the  course  of  the  year  before. 
The  first  step  of  that  body  towards  creating  a  fund  to 
cover  all  the  charges  in  sending  agents  to  England  was 
to  lay  a  tax  of  fifty  pounds  of  tobacco  on  every  tithable 
during  two  years  in  succession;  and  to  this  sum  was 
added  a  fine  of  from  thirty  to  fifty  pounds  imposed  on 
every  person  defeated  in  a  suit  in  a  county  court,  and  of 
from  fifty  to  seventy  pounds  should  his  case  have  been 
brought  in  the  General  Court.1  Col.  Francis  Morryson, 
Thomas  Ludwell,  and  General  Robert  Smith  were 
nominated  to  represent  the  Colony  in  this  mission; 
and  they  were  also  instructed  to  obtain  the  grant  of 
a  general  charter,  as  a  permanent  guarantee  of  all 
those  rights,  liberties,  privileges,  and  properties  which 
had  been  bestowed  from  time  to  time.  All  hope  of 
accomplishing  the  great  objects  in  view  was  dashed 
by  the  Insurrection  of   1676. 

Jeffrey  Jeffreys  was,  in  1691,  appointed  to  serve 
as  the  agent  of  Virginia  in  London.  In  a  general  way, 
his  duty  was  to  consist  of  representing  the  Colony  "in 
all  public  concerns"  relating  to  it  which  might  arise 
from  time  to  time  in  the  Mother  Country.  There  were, 
however,  certain  special  purposes  to  be  carried  out 
by  him  if  possible;  and  should  he  foresee  any  difficulty 
in  doing  so,  he  was  authorized  to  secure  the  counsel 
of  a  competent  lawyer,  and  the  assistance  of  men  of 
note  and  quality  who  were  influential  at  Whitehall: 
first,  he  was  to  lay  before  the  King  and  Queen  the  dif- 
ferent addresses  framed  by  the  General  Assembly  for 

»  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  ii.,  pp.  313-14. 


General  Assembly:  By-Laws  and  Agents  521 

presentation  to  them;  secondly,  he  was  to  procure 
from  the  English  archives  copies  of  all  the  charters 
granted  to  Virginia  in  the  past,  and  of  every  series  of 
instructions  given  to  its  Governors  in  succession; 
thirdly,  he  was  to  obtain  a  new  charter  in  confirmation 
of  all  previous  rights  and  privileges  bestowed  on  the 
people  of  the  Colony;  fourthly,  he  was  to  petition  the 
two  monarchs  to  refrain  from  making  any  gift  of 
territory  in  Virginia  without  first  consulting  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly's  wishes  by  communicating  directly 
with  that  body,  or  with  its  agent  in  England;  fifthly, 
he  was  to  seek  the  restoration  of  the  Northern  Neck  to 
the  Crown's  control  as  the  first  step  towards  placing 
that  part  of  the  Colony  on  the  same  footing  as  the  re- 
maining counties.  In  return  for  devoting  his  time 
to  the  accomplishment  of  these  different  objects, 
Jeffreys  was  to  receive  a  grant  of  two  hundred  pounds 
sterling.1 

When  an  address  of  exceptional  importance  was  to 
be  presented  to  the  throne,  it  was  the  General  Assem- 
bly's custom  to  dispatch  a  special  envoy,  with  the 
document  in  his  custody,  to  London.  In  1696,  the 
younger  William  Byrd  was  sent  with  such  a  document, 
and  with  him,  in  this  honorable  mission,  was  associated 
Mr.  Povey.2 

1  Minutes  of  Assembly,  May  22,  1691,  B.  T.  Va.,  No.  23. 

2  The  Governor's  consent  had  to  be  obtained  to  give  validity 
to  an  address  framed  by  the  House  for  presentation  to  the  King; 
see  Hartwell's  Replies  to  Inquiries  of  English  Commissioners, 
B.  T.  Va.,  1697,  v°l-  vi-»  P-  I45- 


CHAPTER  XXXIII 
Taxation:   General  History 

NO  regular  system  of  taxation  seems  to  have  been 
in  operation  in  Virginia  previous  to  1619,  the 
year  in  which  the  first  Assembly  met  and  the 
self-government  of  the  community  really  began.  Down 
to  161 7-18,  the  Colony  was  practically  a  single  plan- 
tation owned  by  the  London  Company,  and  supported 
by  the  appropriations  made  by  that  body  from  time 
to  time.  It  was  the  Company  which  bore  the  expense 
of  the  salaries  paid  the  different  officers,  including  the 
Governor  and  Secretary.  From  year  to  year,  the 
hope  was  entertained  that  the  income  from  the  coun- 
try's various  resources  would  soon  remove  from  the 
corporation  so  heavy  a  burden.  One  of  the  noblest 
indications  of  the  broad  public  spirit  and  far-sighted 
beneficence  guiding  it  in  its  relations  with  the  settle- 
ments oversea  was  the  provision  made  in  16 18  for 
the  inhabitants'  indefinite  relief  from  every  form  of 
public  taxation;  this  provision  consisted  of  assigning 
tracts  of  fertile  land,  very  conveniently  situated,  for 
the  particular  support  of  each  important  officer  asso- 
ciated with  the  government  of  the  Colony,  thus 
rendering  unnecessary  any  public  levy  for  his  main- 
tenance.1    The  area  as  a  whole  spread  over  at  least 

1  Instructions  to  Yeardley,  161 8,  Va.  Maga.  of  Hist,  and  Biog., 

522 


Taxation :  General  History  523 

thirty-one  thousand  acres;  and  in  order  to  turn  this 
ground,  still  in  its  virgin  condition,  to  the  highest 
advantage,  the  Company  took  immediate  steps  to 
send  out  to  Virginia  a  large  number  of  tenants  and 
agricultural  servants  to  engage  in  working  the  soil 
of  each  tract. 

The  dream  of  establishing  a  free  community  over- 
sea, which  would  never  be  called  upon  to  bear  the 
heaviest  burdens  of  public  taxation,  was  only  too 
soon  dispelled.  One  of  the  influences  leading  to  this 
sprang  from  the  Massacre  of  1622,  an  event  that 
decimated  and  dispersed  the  inhabitants  of  the  tracts 
of  land  set  apart  for  the  support  of  the  different  public 
officers.  But  even  if  this  catastrophe  had  never  oc- 
curred, general  taxation  (small  at  first,  perhaps), 
would  have  been  gradually  introduced.  The  necessity 
of  erecting  fortifications  seems  to  have  caused  the  first 
imposition  of  a  formal  tax.  The  tax  levied  for  this 
purpose  amounted,  it  would  appear,  to  five  per  cent, 
of  every  hundred  represented  in  the  value  of  each 
estate.1  The  necessity  of  placing  a  garrison  in  each 
newly  constructed  fort  led  to  the  imposition  of  the  sec- 
ond formal  tax.  It  was  required  by  law  in  1623  that 
every  citizen  failing  to  contribute  "to  the  finding  a 
man  at  the  Castle"  should  pay  for  himself  and  his 
servants,  a  sum  of  five  pounds  of  tobacco  a  head; 
and  a  very  short  time  afterwards,  a  tax  of  ten  pounds 
was  levied  on  every  tithable  above  sixteen  years  of  age 
for  the  purpose  of  maintaining  a  corps  to  harry  the 

vol.  ii.,  p.  155.  The  term  "public  taxation"  is  used  in  contra- 
distinction to  "parish  taxation"  and  "county  taxation" — see 
Chapter  xxxiv.,  for  the  difference  between  the  public,  parish,  and 
county  levies. 

«  Va.  Hist.  Soc.  Coll.,  vol.  vii.,  p.  44. 


524  Political  Condition 

Indians.1  It  was  now  only  too  clearly  perceived  that 
the  subject  of  public  taxation  was  certain  to  become 
of  great  importance;  and  the  General  Assembly  soon 
adopted  a  regulation  which,  as  we  have  already  seen, 
was  enforced  with  extraordinary  strictness  throughout 
the  remainder  of  the  century,  namely,  that  no  Governor 
should  presume  to  lay  a  tax  on  the  lands  and  com- 
modities of  the  people  without  the  express  authority  of 
the  House  of  Burgesses  itself;  and  all  sums  so  procured 
were  to  be  expended  only  in  such  manner  as  that  body 
should  prescribe.2  This  regulation  was  renewed  in 
163 1-2,  at  which  time  the  Council  was  also  included 
in  the  scope  of  the  law3 ;  and  again  in  1 642-3  4;  and  still 
again,  in  1645.5 

Six  years  later,  when  the  Colony  submitted  to  the 
power  of  Parliament,  it  was  expressly  stipulated  in  the 
articles  of  surrender  that  no  tax,  custom,  or  imposition 
of  any  kind  should  be  laid  on  the  Virginians  without  the 
consent  of  the  General  Assembly.6  During  the  period 
immediately  following,  the  Governor  and  Council  were 
still  without  the  legal  power  to  lay  a  tax  of  their  own 
motion;  when  they  assumed  this  power,  apparently 
without  permission,  it  is  quite  certain  that  they  were 
acting  under  a  general  authority  previously  given 
them.  In  1 6 5  5 ,  Governor  Digges  issued  a  proclamation 
in  which,  after  declaring  that  the  public  levy  was  the 
only  matter  of  business  at  that  time  to  justify  him  in 
summoning  the  Assembly,  and  that  the  convening  of 

*  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  i.,  pp.  127,  128. 

2  British  Colonial  Papers,  vol.  iii.,  No.  9;  Hening's  Statutes, 
vol.  i.,  p.  124. 

3  Randolph  MS.,  vol.  iii.,  p.  218. 

*  Laws  of  Virginia,  1642-3,  p.  3,  Clerk's  Office,  Portsmouth,  Va. 
s  Va.  Maga.  of  Hist,  and  Biog.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  66. 

«  Randolph  MS.,  vol.  iii.,  p.  243. 


Taxation  :  General  History  525 

that  body  would  impose  a  heavy  expense  on  the 
Colony,  he  went  on  to  announce  that,  in  harmony  with 
the  advice  of  leading  citizens  consulted  by  him,  the 
Council  and  himself  now  gave  a  general  order  to  the 
counties  to  levy  a  tax  of  ten  pounds  of  tobacco  on  every 
tithable  residing  within  their  respective  limits.  The  en- 
tire quantity  collected  in  each  county  was  to  be  left  in 
the  custody  of  the  justices  of  its  court,  there,  with  the 
exception  of  what  was  disbursed  for  salaries,  to  remain 
until  the  next  Assembly  should  give  directions  for  its 
distribution.1  Five  years  after  this  proclamation  ap- 
peared, the  Governor  and  Council  were  authorized  by 
the  House  to  lay  and  also  to  proportion  the  public  levy 
for  the  following  twelve  months;  but  this  seems  to  have 
been  purely  formal,  as  the  House  itself  had  already 
issued  instructions  as  to  what  public  expenses  should  be 
paid.  The  tax  to  be  imposed  was  required  not  to  ex- 
ceed twenty  pounds  of  tobacco  a  head.  The  grant  in 
this  case  to  the  Governor  and  Council  of  the  power  to 
lay  the  levy  was  designed  to  do  away  with  the  cost  of 
calling  the  Assembly  together,  a  charge  which,  at  this 
time,  exceeded  all  the  other  public  burdens  united. 
It  was  expressly  provided  in  the  Act  that  this  power 
should  expire  at  the  end  of  three  years;  or  even  earlier, 
should  the  Assembly  meet  in  the  interval.  The  con- 
tinued desire  to  avoid  public  expense  led  to  the  re- 
newal of  the  law.2 

The  Governor  and  Council,  having  been  granted  the 
right  to  impose  a  public  tax  subject  to  certain  restric- 
tions laid  down  by  the  Assembly,  were,  not  unnatu- 
rally, eager  to  acquire  this  right  independently  of  that 

1  This  proclamation  is  recorded  in  Northampton  County  Records 
vol.  1654-5,  p.  109. 

'  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  ii.,  pp.  24,  85. 


526  Political  Condition 

body's  consent;  and  as  a  justification  for  its  unreserved 
bestowal  on  themselves,  they  offered  the  specious 
reason  that  it  would  do  away  with  the  necessity  of  the 
House  meeting  so  often  merely  to  lay  the  levy,  a  step 
that  always  imposed  a  heavy  expense  on  the  Colony 
owing  to  the  salaries  to  be  paid  the  Burgesses  during 
the  course  of  a  session.  It  is  no  ground  for  surprise  to 
find  that  the  most  energetic  effort  to  secure  this  right 
was  made  by  the  Governor  and  Council  so  soon  after  the 
Restoration  as  the  General  Assembly  had  had  time  to 
purge  its  membership  of  all  persons  associated  with  it 
during  the  period  of  the  Commonwealth.  Berkeley, 
in  1666,  endeavored  to  induce  this  body  to  allow  two 
or  more  Councillors  to  join  with  it  in  laying  the  levy  and 
distributing  the  sums  raised  by  this  means;  but  the 
House,  warmly  resenting  the  suggestion,  declared  that 
it  was  the  privilege  of  itself  alone  to  lay  the  levy,  and 
that  it  would  not  acknowledge  the  power  of  the  Gover- 
nor and  Council  to  participate  in  the  function  unless 
specially  authorized  to  do  so  by  an  Act  of  Assembly. 
These  officials  were  forced  to  content  themselves  with 
this  restriction,  and  to  express  their  willingness  to  adopt 
it  as  "  a  rule  to  walk  by."1 

Culpeper  was  as  anxious  as  Berkeley  to  obtain  for 
himself  and  his  Council  the  right  of  imposing  taxes 
independently  of  the  Assembly.  He  advocated  the 
establishment  of  a  permanent  tax  of  twenty  pounds 
of  tobacco  a  head,  which  the  Governor  and  Council 
should  be  impowered  to  levy  without  calling  the  House 
of  Burgesses  together,2  or  apparently  without  first 
obtaining  its  consent.  His  recommendation  came  to 
nothing,  though  earnestly  supported  by  several  Coun- 

»  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  ii.,  p.  254. 

2  British  Colonial  Papers,  vol.  xlvii.,  No.  105. 


Taxation:  General  History  527 

cillors  of  great  influence.  For  instance,  Secretary 
Spencer,  writing  to  the  Board  of  Trade  and  Plantations 
in  March,  1682-3,  declared  that  the  Government  in 
Virginia  possessed  no  fund  with  which  to  defray  the 
charges  of  administration  unless  the  House  had  first 
voted  the  amount  needed;  that  formerly  the  Governor 
and  Council  were  impowered  to  impose  a  tax  not 
exceeding  thirty  pounds  of  tobacco  a  tithable ;  and  that 
such  a  provision  was  entirely  reasonable,  as  the  cost 
of  an  Assembly  summoned  merely  to  appropriate  money 
very  frequently  exceeded  the  total  sum  required  to  pay 
all  the  other  public  expenses.1 

Howard  raised  an  even  louder  protest  against  this 
powerlessness  to  impose  an  independent  tax.  In  a 
letter  to  the  Board  of  Trade  and  Plantations,  dated 
February  10,  1685-6,  he  stated  that  the  House  of 
Burgesses  had  declined  emphatically  to  give  the  Gov- 
ernor and  Council  the  right  to  lay  the  smallest  levy, 
although  at  one  time  such  a  right  had  been  enjoyed 
by  them.  "  Nothing  has  prevailed, "  he  adds,  "nor  I 
believe  will  unless  his  Majesty's  special  command 
therein."  How  keenly  the  House  resented  Howard's 
attitude  was  shown  by  their  refusal  to  add  twenty- 
four  soldiers  to  the  number  which  that  Governor  had 
thought  of  equipping;  and  they  also  declined  to  agree 
to  pay  the  expenses  of  any  body  of  troops  which  the 
Governor  and  Council  should  order  to  be  raised  for  the 
defence  of  the  country.2  The  House  at  this  time  was  in 
such  a  suspicious  mood  that  it  would  not  authorize  the 
Governor  and  Council  to  levy  a  tax  even  for  the  erec- 

«  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1 68 1-5,  p.  10 1. 

2  Ibid.,  1685-90,  pp.  95,  126.  Howard  closed  his  letter  with  the 
remark  that  "so  many  took  liberty  of  speech  upon  the  rebellion 
of  the  late  Duke  of  Monmouth  that  I  was  fearful  it  would  produce 
the  same  here. " 


528  Political  Condition 

tion  of  a  small  building  like  the  Governor's  projected 
mansion.1  And  so  great  was  that  body's  opposition 
to  the  slightest  encroachment  on  its  right  of  taxation, 
that,  in  1691,  it  offered  strong  objection  to  the  items 
inserted  in  a  list  of  expenditures  which  the  Council, 
sitting  as  the  Upper  House,  had  directed  to  be  incurred, 
such  as  the  fees  of  messengers  dispatched  in  the  coun- 
try's service  to  Maryland,  Pennsylvania,  and  New  York, 
and  also  the  larger  salary  granted  for  the  benefit  of  the 
clerk  of  the  Upper  House.  These  payments,  it  seems, 
only  became  legal  after  the  House  had  approved  them.2 
An  additional  proof  of  the  same  feeling  in  the  Bur- 
gesses will  be  found  in  two  Acts  passed  in  the  course  of 
1692.  The  General  Assembly  had  imposed  a  duty  on 
liquors,  which,  for  some  time,  had  brought  in  annually  a 
sum  of  about  one  thousand  pounds  sterling.  This 
amount  was  chiefly  expended  for  military  purposes. 
Aware  of  this  fact,  the  Burgesses  authorized  the  Gover- 
nor or  Commander-in-chief  to  enroll  troops  such  as  would 
be  sufficient  in  number  to  offer  a  successful  defence  of 
the  Colony  in  case  of  an  invasion.  Had  the  two  laws — 
the  one  providing  for  the  tax  on  liquors,  and  the  other 
for  the  muster  of  the  militia  for  special  occasions — been 
perpetual  as  to  time,  the  Governor  and  Council  would, 
to  that  extent,  have  been  rendered  independent  of  the 
House,  for  they  could  have  raised  troops  from  year  to 
year  without  any  further  authorization,  and  would  have 
had  an  ample  fund  for  the  payment  of  their  expenses. 
The  Assembly,  fearful  of  the  possible  consequences  of 
such  independence,  expressly  declared  that  each  of 
the  two  statutes  should  be  temporary  in  its  scope,  a 

*  Minutes  of  Assembly,   Nov.    2,    1685,   Colonial   Entry   Book, 
1682-5. 

2  Minutes  of  Council,  May  16,  1691,  B.  T.  Va.,  1691,  No.  29. 


Taxation:  General  History  529 

fact  which  would  compel  the  Governor  to  summon  the 
House  at  frequent  intervals.  u  If  we  give  away  ye 
power  of  levying  and  maintaining  at  ye  country's 
charge  such  an  armed  force  without  any  limitation  of 
time,,,  they  stated,  ''there  would  be  no  more  creation 
for  Assemblies  because  the  Governor  may  do  what  he 
pleased  without  them."1 

The  firmness  of  the  Burgesses  was  proof  even 
against  the  English  Government's  strong  disapproval. 
One  of  the  instructions  given  to  Howard  in  1685  was  to 
see  that  the  General  Assembly  passed  a  law  authorizing 
the  Governor  and  Council  to  impose  a  tax,  not  exceed- 
ing a  certain  amount,  to  defray  all  public  charges;  and 
directing  the  same  officials  to  account  to  the  House 
for  its  expenditure.  The  object  apparently  was  to 
confer  on  these  officials  a  permanent  right  to  lay  the 
levy,  the  first  step  to  complete  independence  in  this 
respect  of  all  interference  on  the  Burgesses'  part. 
This  recommendation,  or  rather  order,  for  it  was  no 
less  in  substance,  not  having  obtained  a  very  favorable 
hearing  in  the  Colony,  it  was,  in  169 1-2,  renewed  in 
the  instructions  given  to  Andros;  and  now,  as  had  so 
often  been  the  case  before,  the  justification  advanced 
for  bestowing  on  the  Governor  and  Council  the  taxing 
power  was  that  it  would  certainly  relieve  the  country 
of  the  burden  of  too  frequent  Assemblies,2  a  fact  that 

*  Memorial  about  College,  B.  T.  Va.,  1692,  No.  118. 

2  Instructions  to  Howard,  1685-90,  p.  37;  see  also  Instructions 
to  Andros,  B.  T.  Va.,  Entry  Book,  vol.  xxxvi.,  p.  123.  That  the 
right  of  taxing  which  it  was  proposed  to  confer  on  the  Governor 
and  Council  was  intended  to  be  permanent  is  shown  by  the  wording 
of  the  Instructions :  Andros  was  ordered  to  use  his  ' '  best  endeavours 
that  a  law  be  passed  empowering  the  Governor  and  Council  for 
the  time  being  to  raise  as  there  shall  be  occasion  a  general  levy  or 
tax  for  the  better  support  of  the  Government.  "  They  were  merely 
to  account  to  the  next  Assembly. 
vol.  n — 34 


530  Political  Condition 

would  have  been  conclusive  with  the  Burgesses  them- 
selves as  to  the  advisability  of  the  law  had  they  not 
very  rightly  been  afraid  of  establishing  a  principle, 
which,  in  the  hands  of  unscrupulous  officials,  might 
be  used  to  curtail  seriously  the  power  of  the  House  and 
to  diminish  the  people's  freedom.  Again  there  was  no 
satisfactory  response.  Refusing  to  be  discouraged,  the 
Board  of  Trade  and  Plantations  instructed  Nicholson, 
when  he  was  appointed  to  the  Governorship,  to  renew 
the  recommendation,  still  on  the  same  ground.  The 
Burgesses,  apparently  worn  out  by  a  repetition  of  the 
request,  and  the  reason  offered  in  its  support,  replied 
with  unconcealed  impatience :  '"  We  are  of  opinion  that 
the  holding  of  Assemblies  to  defray  the  charges  of  this 
his  Majesty's  Colony  and  Dominion  is  not  at  all  burthen- 
some  or  grievous  to  the  inhabitants  hereof,  and  that 
any  other  method  of  laying  ye  same  would  be  very 
unjustifiable  to  the  circumstances  of  this  Dominion, 
and  uneasy  and  inconvenient  to  the  inhabitants. ' ' l  No 
further  suggestion  of  a  change  was  made  by  the  English 
Government  during  the  brief  interval  preceding  the 
end  of  the  century. 

The  House  of  Burgesses,  as  the  representatives  of  the 
people,  never  failed,  when  the  occasion  called  for  it, 
to  insist  upon  their  right  to  be  taxed  only  with  their 
own  consent.  They  were  merely  loyal  to  the  spirit  of 
their  whole  past  when  they  instructed  their  agents  in 
England,  Morryson,  Ludwell,  and  Smith, — dispatched 
thither,  about  1674-5,  for  the  purpose  of  securing  a 
general  charter, — to  have  this  right  acknowledged  and 
embodied  in  the  text  of  that  instrument;  and  if  there 
was  a  disposition  on  the  English  Government's  part  to 
question  it,  to  see  that  this  doubt  was  dispelled  before 

1  Minutes  of  Assembly,  June  2,  1699,  B.  T.  Va.,  vol.  Hi. 


Taxation:  General  History  531 

they  proceeded  to  less  important  demands.  The  lan- 
guage used  by  the  Burgesses  in  outlining  the  petition 
to  be  presented  by  these  agents  is  especially  memorable 
in  the  light  of  the  great  events  occurring  in  the  next 
century  as  the  result  of  a  firm  refusal  on  the  Americans' 
part  to  yield  this  same  right :  "  It  is  humbly  conceived 
that,  if  his  Majesty  deduce  a  Colony  of  Englishmen  by 
their  own  consent,  or  license  or  permit  one  to  be  de- 
duced, to  plant  an  uncultivated  part  of  the  world,  such 
planters  and  their  heirs  ought  to  enjoy  by  law  in  such 
plantation  the  same  liberties  and  privileges  as  English- 
men in  England,  such  plantations  being  but  in  the 
nature  of  an  extension  or  dilatation  of  the  realm  of 
England, — that  King  James  did  by  the  charter  to  the 
Treasurer  and  Company  declare  that  their  descendants 
born  in  Virginia  would  be  taken  as  natural-born  sub- 
jects of  England, — that  neither  the  present  King,  nor 
any  of  his  ancestors  or  predecessors,  had  ever  offered  to 
impose  any  tax  upon  this  plantation  without  the 
consent  of  his  subjects  there."1  x 

In  the  remonstrance  which  they  drew  up  when  the 
grant  of  the  charter  was  practically  refused,  the  agents, 
with  emphasis,  declared  that  it  was  the  right  of  the 
Virginians,  as  well  as  of  all  other  Englishmen,  "  not  to 
be  taxed  but  of  their  own  consent,  expressed  by  their 
representatives."2  Throughout  the  negotiations,  they 
had,  in  accord  with  their  instructions,  reiterated  the 
assertion  of  this  right  in  language  not  less  firm  because 
moderate  and  guarded: — "we  hope,"  they  said,  "that 
our  request  will  not  be  deemed  immodest  when  it  is 
considered  that  both  the  acquisition  and  defence  of 

»  Randolph  MS.,  vol.  iii.,  p.  331;  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  ii.,  pp. 

525-6- 

2  Ibid.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  535. 


S32  Political  Condition 

Virginia  have  been  at  the  charge  of  the  inhabitants,  and 
that  the  people  at  this  time  were  at  the  expense  of  sup- 
porting not  only  the  Government,  but  also  the  Gover- 
nor, which  occasions  their  taxes  to  be  very  high."1 

In  the  instructions  which  the  General  Assembly,  in 
1 69 1,  gave  to  Jeffrey  Jeffreys,  the  Colony's  agent  in 
London  at  that  time,  he  was  expressly  directed  to  sup- 
plicate that  no  tax  should  be  laid  "  on  any  of  ye  people 
of  this  country,"  but  with  the  consent  of  their  repre- 
sentatives. And  the  same  body,  having  also  declared 
that  this  was  simply  one  of  tnose  "equal  rights  and 
privileges"  to  which  the  Virginians  were  entitled  as 
clearly  as  if  they  were  "  natural-born  subjects  of  ye 
realms  of  England,"  begged  that  they  should  be  gov- 
erned "after  the  same  method"  as  Englishmen;  and 
that  they  should  have  the  "full  benefit  of  ye  great 
charter,  and  of  all  other  laws  and  statutes  regulating 
ye  liberties  of  ye  subjects."2 

The  momentous  principle  of  the  next  century  that 
"Taxation  without  Representation  is  Tyranny,"  so 
firmly  pressed  in  substance  by  William  Pitt  in  the 
cause  of  the  large  English  communities  that  nei- 
ther separately  nor  collectively  possessed  a  member 
of    Parliament,   and  so  boldly  proclaimed  and  sup- 

»  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  ii.,  p.  526;  Randolph  MS.,  vol.  iii.,  p.  328. 
In  the  Attorney-General's  report  to  the  Privy  Council  on  the  pe- 
tition of  Morryson,  Ludwell,and  Smith,  he  recommended  the  grant 
of  their  prayer  that  no  tax  should  be  laid  but  by  common  consent 
of  the  Governor,  Council,  and  Burgesses,  which  he  says  has  "been 
heretofore  used.  "  This  report  was  approved  by  the  Privy  Council, 
but  came  to  nothing;  see  Colonial  Entry  Book  1675-81,  p.  41.  By 
"common  consent  of  Governor,  Council  and  Burgesses"  was  meant 
simply  that  the  assent  of  the  Governor  and  Council  was  necessary 
to  the  validity  of  money  bills  passed  by  the  House. 

2  Minutes  of  House  of  Burgesses,  May  22,  1691,  B.  T.  Va.,  1691, 
No.  23. 


Taxation:  General  History  533 

ported  by  the  American  patriots  in  the  defence  of  their 
own  interests,  had,  nearly  one  hundred  years  before, 
found  a  voice  in  the  utterances  of  the  Virginia  House  of 
Burgesses.  In  proportion  to  population,  a  stamp  Act 
passed  in  1674  would  have  raised  as  great  a  commotion 
in  the  Colony  then  as  it  in  reality  did  do  in  1766,  for 
the  public  sentiment  in  which  opposition  to  taxation 
without  the  consent  of  the  people's  representatives, 
had  its  origin,  was  just  as  strong  in  the  Seventeenth 
century  as  it  was  in  the  Eighteenth.  The  resolutions 
of  Patrick  Henry  adopted  by  the  House  of  Burgesses 
in  May,  1765,  would  have  had,  so  far  as  the  principle 
involved  in  them  was  concerned,  just  as  hearty  assent 
sixty  years  earlier,  had  they  been  submitted  to  the 
Assembly  at  that  time.  There  was  nothing  new  in 
the  spirit  exhibited  by  the  House  in  responding  to  the 
eloquence  of  the  famous  Revolutionary  orator.  The 
Burgesses  of  the  Seventeenth  century  would,  with  equal 
firmness,  have  rejected  the  specious  defence,  suggested 
by  the  subtle  brain  of  a  great  lawyer,  that  all  classes 
and  all  interests  of  the  British  Empire  were  represented 
indirectly,  if  not  directly,  in  the  membership  of  Parlia- 
ment, a  claim  tacitly  admitted  by  the  English  them- 
selves to  be  false  when,  in  1832,  they,  by  passing  the 
Reform  Bill,  placed  the  whole  system  of  Parliamentary 
Representation  on  the  footing  which  the  American 
Colonists  had  long  before  asserted  to  be  the  only  just 
one  in  relation  to  taxation. 


CHAPTER  XXXIV 

Taxation:   Public  and  County  Levies 

I 

r"T*HERE  were  three  tax  levies,  known  respectively 

as  the  Parish,  the  County,  and  the  Public.     The 
parish  levy  was  laid   by  the   vestry  of  each 
parish;  the  county  levy  by  the  justices  of  each  county; 
and  the  public  by  the  General  Assembly. 

In  a  former  chapter,  I  enumerated  the  usual  purposes 
for  which  the  parish  levy  was  laid,  such,  for  instance, 
as  the  building  of  new  churches  and  chapels-of-ease,  or 
the  repairing  of  old;  the  purchase  of  glebes  and  the 
erection  of  houses  on  them;  and  the  payment  of 
the  salaries  due  the  clergy,  readers,  and  clerks.  The 
charges  defrayed  by  the  public  levy  consisted  of  claims 
against  the  public  treasury  approved  by  the  House 
Committee  on  Claims.  In  a  general  way,  they  em- 
braced the  salaries  of  the  Governor  and  other  higher 
officers;  the  fees  of  the  clerks  of  the  General  Assembly 
and  its  several  committees;  the  wages  of  messengers 
and  door-keepers;  the  expenses  incurred  by  the  militia 
whilst  engaged  in  active  service;  the  costs  entailed  in 
issuing  writs  of  election,  or  in  building  or  repairing  the 
State-House;  the  rent  to  be  paid  when  the  Burgesses 
or  Councillors  and  the  General  Court  held  their  regular 
sessions  or  terms  in  private  residences  or  taverns;  and 

534 


Taxation:  Public  and  County  Levies     535 

finally,  the  charges  imposed  by  the  pursuit  and  arrest 
of  runaway  servants. * 

The  public  levy  for  November,  1682,  offers  a  fair 
example  of  the  particulars  usually  forming  a  part  of 
the  public  charges.  The  items  which  it  contained 
included  the  cost  to  each  county  of  laying  off  the  site 
of  a  new  town  within  its  borders ;  the  expense  of  repair- 
ing the  forts,  and  maintaining  the  garrisons,  and  also 
a  certain  number  of  troopers  and  supernumeraries  for 
a  designated  time;  the  sums  due  for  horses  killed  or 
dying  during  the  progress  of  a  campaign  against  the 
Indians,  or  while  the  soldiers  were  stationed  in  the 
forts;  the  outlay  for  the  transportation  of  Indian 
prisoners,  and  for  the  employment  of  Indian  inter- 
preters; the  cost  of  furnishing  friendly  tribes  with 
match  coats,  of  conveying  persons  under  indictment  for 
criminal  offences  to  Jamestown  for  trial,  of  transmitting 
public  letters,  of  affording  medical  attendance  to  men 
engaged  in  the  public  service,  and  of  impressing  boats 
and  rowers  and  supplying  provisions  for  their  benefit.2 

The  expenses  met  by  the  county  levy  were  even 
more  numerous : — in  a  general  way,  they  embraced  the 
outlay  made  necessary  in  building  or  repairing  court- 
houses, erecting  prisons,  pillories,  stocks,  and  whipping- 
posts; maintaining  permanent  bridges  and  ferries; 
holding  coroners'  inquests;  paying  the  rewards  for  the 
destruction  of  wolves;  remunerating  the  Burgesses  for 
their  services,  and  defraying  their  charges  during  their 
journey  to  or  from  Jamestown,  before  or  after  a 
session. 

1  Beverley's  History  of  Virginia,  pp.  203-4;  Present  State  of 
Virginia,  16QJ-8,  Section  ix.  The  salaries  of  the  highest  public 
officers,  such  as  the  Governor  and  the  Secretary,  were  also  included 
in  the  public  levy  during  the  earlier  decades  of  the  century. 

2  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1682-95,  p.  76. 


536  Political  Condition 

It  will  be  of  interest  to  enumerate  with  even  more 
particularity  some  of  the  special  items  in  the  levies  of 
different  counties,  as  perhaps  giving  a  clearer  idea  of 
their  varied  character.  Among  the  Lower  Norfolk 
assessments  for  1647  there  is  found  an  entry  for  a 
"case  of  drinke,"  probably  supplied  to  the  justices 
during  a  term  of  court.  The  entries  for  1652  included 
the  compensation  allowed  for  the  impressment  of 
boats  and  rowers  employed  in  the  county's  service; 
those  for  1662  the  grant  of  a  large  sum  of  tobacco  to 
Richard  Whitby  in  consideration  of  his  "deplorable 
condition";  those  for  1685,  the  cost  of  rum,  beer,  and 
sugar  consumed  when  the  accession  of  the  new  King 
was  proclaimed.  The  Elizabeth  City  county  levy  for 
1693  made  appropriations  to  cover  the  expense  of 
cleaning  the  court-house  building,  summoning  the  grand 
jury,  procuring  a  new  set  of  standard  weights  from 
England,  sending  a  special  messenger  to  Jamestown, 
and  obtaining  a  full  copy  of  the  Acts  of  the  last  General 
Assembly.  Among  the  items  included  in  the  entries 
for  1696  were  the  sums  allowed  for  the  encouragement 
of  linen  manufacture,  and  for  the  digging  of  the  graves 
of  paupers  who  had  been  supported  by  the  county. 
The  assessments  for  1698  were  to  meet  charges  incurred 
by  private  individuals  in  providing  food  and  lodging 
for  the  county's  poor;  and  also  to  remunerate  carpenters 
for  erecting  two  pairs  of  stocks  on  the  court-green  and 
benches  in  the  court -room,  and  for  tearing  down  an 
old  and  dilapidated  church  edifice. 

The  items  embraced  in  the  levy  of  York  county  for 
the  year  1647  included  the  expense  of  maintaining  three 
ferries  for  public  use;  of  impressing  a  boat  and  rowers 
in  order  to  facilitate  the  journey  of  persons  emp^ed 
in  performing  public  services;  of  providing  shackles  for 


Taxation :  Public  and  County  Levies     537 

a  convicted  prisoner,  and  locks  and  keys  for  the  county- 
jail.  Among  the  entries  contained  in  the  levy  for  1659 
were  charges  incurred  for  supplying  prisoners  with 
victual,  and  the  justices  with  liquors.  In  1662, 
appropriations  were  made  for  the  erection  of  a  tan 
house,  and  the  maintenance  of  a  public  ferry  at  a  con- 
venient point;  whilst  the  other  expenses  included  the 
cost  of  impanelling  a  jury,  of  whipping  a  female 
offender,  of  providing  food  and  lodgings  for  the  judges 
of  the  General  Court,  and  of  conveying  their  horses 
to  Jamestown.  The  levy  for  1665  made  allowance 
for  the  outlay  entailed  by  the  appearance  in  that  court 
of  ten  witnesses  from  York,  who  had  been  summoned 
to  testify  in  a  case  on  trial  there. 

Among  the  items  embraced  in  the  levy  for  Henrico 
in  1677  was  the  cost  of  rowing  the  Burgesses  to  James- 
town. It  also  included  the  expense  of  hiring  men  and 
horses  in  the  public  service;  of  mending  the  royal 
arms;  of  paying  the  county  ferryman  and  county' 
clerk  their  regular  salaries;  and  of  purchasing  copies 
of  the  Acts  of  the  last  General  Assembly.  The  entries 
for  1678  included  the  charges  for  maintaining  the 
public  ferry  and  repairing  the  county  prison.  In  the 
levy  for  1682,  there  was  an  allowance  to  meet  the  cost 
of  dispatching  numerous  messages  in  the  public  service, 
and  also  of  erecting  a  pillory,  whipping-post,  and  pair 
of  stocks;  whilst  amongst  the  entries  for  1684,  there  was 
an  allowance  for  the  fees  paid  the  Secretary  of  the  Col- 
ony as  remuneration  for  drafting  two  commissions 
for  the  county  justices.  A  similar  item  appeared  in 
the  levy  for  1686.  In  the  levy  for  1687,  an  appropria- 
tion was  made  to  meet  the  cost  of  the  shackles  provided 
for  a  negro  criminal,  and  also  the  charges  for  conveying 
him  by  boat  to  the  county  seat;  and  in  addition,  there 


538  Political  Condition 

was  an  appropriation  for  the  purchase  of  glass  to  be 
used  in  the  court-house  windows.  The  entries  for  1688 
included  the  charges  entailed  by  the  imprisonment  of 
certain  offenders  against  the  law;  the  entries  for  1691, 
the  cost  of  a  town  site,  the  fees  paid  for  its  survey,  and 
the  expense  of  supplying  juries  with  food  during  the 
term  of  the  court;  the  entries  for  1692,  the  cost  of 
repairing  the  county  prison,  of  purchasing  nails  and 
hinges  for  use  in  the  court-house,  and  of  making  two 
pairs  of  leg  and  hand  irons;  the  entries  for  1694,  the 
wages  for  guarding  a  prisoner,  and  also  the  rewards 
offered  for  the  manufacture  of  linen  cloth. 

In  the  levy  for  1696  in  Essex  county,  certain  sums 
were  allowed  for  sending  an  address  to  Jamestown  to 
be  submitted  to  the  authorities  there ;  for  providing  the 
clerk  with  the  necessary  furniture  for  his  office;  for 
cleaning  the  interior  of  the  court-house ;  and  for  making 
a  new  door  for  the  prison.  The  entries  in  the  levy  for 
'1698  included  the  rewards  offered  for  the  manufacture 
of  linen,  the  wages  paid  the  custodian  of  the  court- 
house, and  the  fees  due  the  sheriff  for  extraordinary 
services.  The  ordinary  expenses,  such  as  the  payment 
of  Burgesses'  salaries,  and  the  like,  also  constituted  a 
permanent  feature  of  the  Essex  levies,  as  of  the  levies 
of  Henrico,  York,  and  the  other  counties. 

The  entries  in  the  Westmoreland  levy  for  1658  in- 
cluded the  charges  for  the  support  of  a  certain  number 
of  soldiers,  who  probably  had  been  called  together  for 
the  defence  of  this  county  alone.  Among  the  items 
in  the  levy  for  1692  in  Richmond  was  an  allowance  for 
the  fees  of  an  attorney  employed  in  that  county's 
service.  The  same  levy  also  appropriated  a  large  sum 
for  the  maintenance  of  three  public  ferries;  and  an 
additional  amount  to  meet  the  outlay  for  attendance 


Taxation:  Public  and  County  Levies     539 

on  a  venire  at  Jamestown,  and  to  remunerate  the 
Secretary  of  the  Colony  for  drawing  up  the  commission 
of  the  justices.  The  levy  in  Northumberland  for  Jan- 
uary, 1682-3,  made  provision  for  the  payment  of  the 
salary  of  the  physician  attached  to  Potomac  Fort.  It 
also  appropriated  money  for  the  survey  of  the  new 
town  site;  for  the  transmission  of  public  letters;  for 
the  disbursement  of  witnesses*  fees;  for  the  arrest  of 
runaways;  and  for  the  settlement  of  claims  made  by 
neighboring  counties. 


CHAPTER  XXXV 
Taxation  :  The  Poll  Tax 

THE  funds  obtained  by  the  public,  county,  and 
parish  levies  were  raised  practically  by  one  form 
of  taxation,  namely,  taxation  by  the  poll.  No 
permanent  tax  was  imposed  on  land  for  these  purposes 
because  this  kind  of  property  was  regarded  as  already 
sufficiently  burdened  by  the  quit-rent;  no  tax  was 
laid  on  trade  because  it  was  thought  that  that  branch 
of  the  Colony's  interests  was  already  overweighted  by 
the  export  duty  of  two  shillings  a  hogshead  and  the 
English  customs;  and  none  on  live  stock,  such  as  horses, 
cattle,  sheep,  goats,  and  hogs,  because  looked  upon  as 
held  insecurely,  and  as  of  uncertain  value.1 

Experiments  with  the  design  of  making  land,  trade, 
and  live  stock  subject  to  ordinary  taxation  were,  how- 
ever, tried  at  different  periods  of  the  century.  An  Act 
was  passed  in  1645,  which  provided  that  the  public, 
county,  and  parish  levies  should,  in  stated  proportions, 
be  imposed  on  all  visible  forms  of  property.  These 
proportions  were  to  be  as  follows :  the  land-owner  was 
to  pay  four  pounds  of  tobacco  for  every  one  hundred 
acres  in  his  possession ;  the  owner  of  a  cow  also  four 
pounds;  of  a  horse,  mare  or  gelding,  thirty-two  pounds 
apiece;  of  a  breeding  sheep,  four  pounds;  and  of  a 
breeding  goat,  two.  In  addition,  every  tithable  person 

1  Present  State  of  Virginia,  16Q7-8,  section  ix. 

5  4o 


Taxation :  The  Poll  Tax  541 

was  required  to  pay  a  tax  of  twenty  pounds.  This  law 
was  adopted  on  the  ground  that  the  prevailing  form  of 
taxation  had  become  insupportable  to  persons  in 
narrow  circumstances. i  Previous  to  the  passage  of  this 
statute,  the  system  of  public,  county,  and  parish  tax- 
ation had  been  by  the  poll  alone;  in  extending  this 
system  to  visible  property  also,  thus  increasing  the 
volume  of  income,  the  burden  resting  on  the  poorer 
individuals,  who  owned  a  very  small  amount  of  such 
property  or  none  at  all,  was  to  that  degree  lightened. 
The  poll  tax  would  have  continued  to  be  the  only  tax 
even  in  1645  but  for  the  costliness  of  the  Indian  war 
then  in  progress.  As  it  was,  the  greater  scope  now 
given  to  the  operation  of  taxation  was  intended  to  be 
only  temporary.  In  1648,  the  law  broadening  this 
scope  was  repealed,  and  the  poll  tax  alone  retained.2 

The  poll  tax  was  favored  by  the  wealthier  section  of 
the  community  because  it  made  the  public  burthens 
proportionately  less  onerous  for  them.  Had  the  law 
of  1645  continued  in  force,  it  would  have  signified  the 
double  taxation  of  lands,3  and  also  the  taxation  of  a 
great  area  of  unproductive  soil  along  with  the  pro- 
ductive. During  the  period  of  the  Commonwealth, 
when  the  General  Assembly  seems  to  have  been  more 
than  usually  responsive  to  the  sentiment  of  the  mass  of 
citizens,  that  body  frankly  acknowledged  that  the  poll 
tax  laid  a  very  heavy  hand  on  the  resources  of  the 
people  at  large;  but  recognizing  that  the  chief  land- 
owners should  not  be  treated  with  injustice  (for  this 
would  have  been  merely  righting  one  wrong  by  inflict- 

J  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  i.,  p.  306.  This  law,  somewhat  modified 
however,  was  in  force  in  1647;  see  York  County  Records,  vol. 
1638-48,  p.  299,  Va.  St.  Libr. 

2  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  i.,  p.  356. 

a  Lands  were  already  subject  to  the  quit-rent. 


542  Political  Condition 

ing  another),  the  same  body  decided  to  reduce  the  poll 
tax  by  imposing  an  export  duty  on  every  hogshead  of 
tobacco  shipped  away  from  the  Colony.1  This  was 
the  first  step  towards  substituting,  at  least  in  part, 
an  indirect  for  a  direct  tax. 

The  Council  joined  Governor  Berkeley  in  1663  in 
favoring  the  transfer  of  the  tax  from  tithables  to  the 
soil;  but  as  the  Burgesses  disapproved  of  the  proposi- 
tion, no  change  was  made.  During  the  time  of  the 
Long  Assembly,  a  body  of  men  thoroughly  repre- 
sentative of  the  landed  interests,  the  insistence  upon 
the  continuation  of  the  poll  tax  had  indirectly  a  power- 
ful influence  in  precipitating  the  Insurrection  of  1676. 
The  poorer  section  of  the  population  again  complained 
that  this  form  of  taxation  was  inequitable,  because, 
under  its  operation,  persons  "  who  had  nothing  but  their 
labors  to  maintain  themselves,  wives,  and  children, 
paid  as  deeply  to  the  public  as  he  that  hath  twenty 
thousand  acres  of  land."2  This  statement  was  only 
correct  in  case  the  owner  of  so  large  a  tract  allowed  it 
to  remain  entirely  idle,  an  improbable  condition;  such 
a  proprietor,  almost  necessarily  requiring  many  laborers 
to  work  his  fields,  was  compelled  to  meet,  not  only  the 
tax  imposed  on  his  own  poll,  but  also  the  tax  imposed 
on  the  poll  of  every  tithable  in  his  employment ;  so  that, 
after  all,  the  expense  to  the  large  land-owner  was  in 
proportion  to  the  number  of  his  agricultural  servants, 
without  whom  his  estate  would  have  been  of  no  practical 
use  to  him  excepting  as  a  cattle  range,  and  his  position 
really  that  of  the  very  poor  man.  The  oppressiveness 
of  the  poll  tax  during  the  existence  of  the  Long  Assem- 

*  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  i.,  pp.  356,  491 ;  vol.  ii.,  p.  133. 
2  Letter  of  Giles  Bland,  April  20,  1676,  Randolph  MS.,  vol.  iii., 
P-353- 


Taxation :  The  Poll  Tax  543 

bly  consisted,  not  in  the  principle  of  the  tax,  which  on 
the  whole  was  not  very  unequal  in  its  legitimate  opera- 
tion, but  in  its  abuse  in  actual  practice  by  that  body 
to  gratify  their  spirit  of  extravagance.  Giles  Bland 
estimated,  no  doubt  correctly,  that  the  House  of  Bur- 
gesses, for  every  member  belonging  to  it,  imposed  on 
the  Colony  an  expense  falling  little  short  of  five  hundred 
pounds  of  tobacco  a  day,  a  huge  sum  in  the  aggregate 
when  it  is  recalled  that  some  of  the  counties  contained 
only  five  hundred  tithables.1  In  addition  to  these 
charges,  which  were  defrayed  by  the  poll  tax,  there  were 
the  numerous  gifts  made  to  the  Governor,  and  the 
fund  appropriated  for  the  support  of  the  three  com- 
missioners sent  to  England  to  obtain  a  new  charter. 
The  whole  amount,  when  proportioned  among  the  tith- 
ables, laid  upon  each  taxpayer  a  burden  under  which 
even  persons  of  large  resources  must  have  been  very 
hard  pressed.  In  the  long  run,  the  small  land-owner 
was  perhaps  less  able  to  bear  this  burden  than  the 
large ;  whilst  freemen  possessing  no  estate  at  all  must 
have  been  almost  crushed  by  it.  It  was  from  these  two 
sections  of  the  community,  namely,  the  small  land- 
owners and  the  persons  without  property,  or  with  so 
little  as  to  be  unworthy  of  consideration,  that  Bacon's 
principal  supporters  were  drawn ;  and  not  unnaturally 
so,  for  it  was  they  who  had  most  reason  to  complain 
of  the  administration  of  public  affairs.2 

Bland  urged  as  a  remedy  for  the  real  or  supposed 

•  Letter  of  Giles  Bland,  April  20,  1676,  Randolph  MS.,  vol.  iii., 

P-  353- 

2  The  following  from  the  records  throws  light  on  the  sentiment 
of  the  people  at  this  time  respecting  the  taxes:  "John  Millby  come 
to  this  depont's  house  and  said  he  had  been  about  ye  county  of 
Northampton  amongst  ye  Inhabitants  informing  them  yt  they 
were  much  wronged  by  ye  conditions  in  their  taxes  and  levies  and 


544  Political  Condition 

inequalities  of  the  poll  tax  that  the  fund  obtained  by 
the  collection  of  the  import  duty  of  two  shillings  a 
hogshead  should  be  applied  more  strictly  to  the  neces- 
sary charges  of  the  Government.  Under  the  terms  of 
the  statute  creating  this  duty,  the  proceeds  were  to  be 
first  used  in  payment  of  the  Governor's  salary;  and 
any  surplus  was  to  be  devoted  to  other  public  purposes. 
There  was  no  authority  given  by  that  statute  to  dis- 
tribute the  income  from  the  duty  in  the  form  of  gifts. 
Should  this  income  fall  short  of  the  Government's 
expenses,  it  was  Bland's  opinion  that  the  deficit  should 
be  made  good  by  a  tax  imposed  on  land.     To  this,  he 

yt  hee  was  employed  to  see  them  righted,  and  yt  there  were  several 
who  would  bear  him  out  in  it,  and  yt  he  had  a  qualification  from  ye 
Governor  to  call  a  party  of  honest  godly  men  together,  who  were 
to  question  ye  commissioners  for  ye  wrong  they  had  done  the 
county  ...  ye  county  was  not  only  wronged  of  this  year's  taxes, 
and  levies,  but  in  a  great  sum  which  hath  been  twice  or  thrice 
already  paid  for  Mr.  Pitts,  and  was  now  again  to  be  paid,  so  that  ye 
oppression  of  ye  county  were  great  and  intolerable,  whereof  he, 
ye  sd  Mill  by,  did  inform  ye  people,  etc."  The  county  court 
hearing  of  the  charges  made  by  Millby,  denounced  him  for  "lyes 
and  false  information";  see  Northampton  County  Records,  vol. 
1657-64,  pp.  97-9.  It  is  stated  in  the  records  of  Surry  County  for 
1673,  that  "a  Company  of  seditious  and  rude  people  to  ye  number 
of  fourteen  did  unlawfully  assemble  at  ye  Parish  Church  of  Lawnes 
Creek  with  intent  to  declare  that  they  would  not  pay  their  publique 
taxes,  and  yt  they  expected  diverse  others  to  meet  them,  who 
faileing,  they  did  not  put  their  wicked  design  into  execution  .  .  . 
Not  being  satisfied  with  their  former  unlawful  meeting,  did,  this 
day,  the  greatest  part  of  them,  meet  together  in  the  old  fielde 
called  ye  Devill's  Field  .  .  .  they  have  unanimously  agreed  to 
justify  their  meetings  persisting  in  ye  same  .  .  .  and  ye  mutinous 
persons  aforesaid  being  so  numerous,  we  have  commanded  ye  aid 
of  several  of  ye  neighbourhood  for  their  security."  One  witness 
stated  that  everybody  in  the  county  declared  the  "levys  unreason- 
able" ;  another  that  the  so-called  mutineers  did  intend  only  "civilly 
to  treate  concerning  ye  levy";  and  this  seems  to  have  been  the  real 
spirit  of  this  meeting;  see  Surry  County  Records,  vol.  1671-1684, 
p.  62. 


Taxation :  The  Poll  Tax  545 

claimed,  no  objection  would  have  been  offered  by  the 
majority  of  the  land-owners  had  they  only  brought  the 
whole  surface  of  their  estates  under  cultivation;  but 
not  having  done  this,  they  raised  an  outcry  against 
such  a  tax  on  the  ground  that  it  placed  a  burden  on 
soil  not  only  wholly  unproductive,  but  also  subject 
already  to  the  royal  quit-rents. 

The  people  at  large,  however,  continued  to  insist  that 
the  only  proper  direct  tax  to  impose  was  a  tax  levied  on 
the  soil.  In  the  series  of  grievances  submitted  by  the 
several  counties  to  the  English  Commissioners  after 
the  Insurrection  of  1676  had  been  suppressed,  one  of  the 
changes  most  frequently  advocated  was  that  "every 
man  should  be  taxed  according  to  his  estate,  whether 
real  or  personal,  but  in  lands  especially."1  This  is 
recognized  in  our  own  times  to  be  the  most  reasonable 
basis  of  taxation,  but  during  the  Seventeenth  century 
no  consideration  in  its  favor  led  to  the  permanent 
substitution  of  a  land  tax  in  whole  or  in  part  for  the 
poll  tax.  Popular  sentiment  only,  in  a  measure,  became 
reconciled  to  it  when,  as  the  years  passed,  its  amount 
was  greatly  lessened  by  the  proceeds  from  the  indirect 
taxes  imposed  by  the  General  Assembly.  Complaint 
of  its  inequalities  was  heard  as  late  as  16832;  and  so 

i  See,  for  instance,  James  City  County  Grievances,  Winder  Papers, 
vol.  ii.,  p.  247. 

2  Culpeper  wrote  as  follows:  "His  Majesty  should  lay  his  strict 
command  on  the  next  Assembly  not  to  raise  money  by  tithables 
(except  only  20  pounds  per  poll,  pursuant  to  the  desires  of  several 
counties  and  advice  of  the  Council,  by  the  Governor  and  Council 
without  calling  an  Assembly),  but  by  a  duty  on  brandy  and  other 
liquors,  or  almost  any  other  way. "  He  pronounced  the  taxation 
of  tithables  "unequal  and  chargeable  in  the  raising  of  at  least  20 
per  cent.,  causing  prodigious  quantities  of  fresh  tobacco  to  be  made, 
which  not  only  clogs  the  market,  but  disparages  the  commodity"; 
see  British  Colonial  Papers,  vol.  xlvii.,  No.  105. 
vol.  n — 35 


546  Political  Condition 

influential  was  the  oposition  to  it  still,  that,  during 
that  year,  the  Board  of  Trade  went  so  far  as  to  recom- 
mend the  abolition  of  the  tax.  Howard,  on  his  appoint- 
ment to  the  Governorship,  was  instructed  to  see  to  the 
adoption  in  its  stead  of  one  that  would  prove  to  be 
more  generally  acceptable;  and  the  like  direction  was 
given  to  Andros  in  169 1-2,  an  indication  that  the  Bur- 
gesses had,  in  the  interval,  refused  to  alter  the  prevail- 
ing method  of  raising  the  funds  necessary  to  meet  the 
expenses  of  administration.  A  similar  direction  given 
to  Nicholson  at  the  end  of  the  century  met  with  the 
same  resolute  hostility ;  when  that  Governor  urged  the 
House  to  change  from  a  poll  to  a  land  tax,  this  body 
replied  that, in  their  opinion,  the  "  levy  by  the  poll"  was 
the  best  and  most  equal  method  of  defraying  the  public 
charges,  inasmuch  as  the  principal  part  of  every  citizen's 
personal  estate  consisted  of  servants  and  slaves,  the  two 
classes  constituting  the  bulk  of  the  Colony's  tithables. 
The  House  stated  that  no  complaint  was  now  ever 
made  in  Virginia  of  the  poll  tax  because,  whenever  the 
requirements  of  an  extraordinary  occasion  called  for  a 
larger  income,  the  difference  was  now  always  obtained 
by  a  duty  placed  on  imported  liquors.1  This  was,  no 
doubt,  the  chief  reason  why  the  poll  tax  did  not  at  this 
time  arouse  the  bitter  opposition  formerly  shown 
towards  it;  but  it  is  probable  also  that,  as  the  number 
of  slaves  brought  into  the  Colony  increased  (a  kind  of 
tithable  perhaps  more  certainly  returnable  for  taxation 
than  the  ordinary  white  servants,  who  relatively  dimin- 
ished in  number  as  the  end  of  the  century  approached) , 
it  was  felt  that  the  poll  tax  became  more  equitable 
in  its  operation.     The  ease  with  which  negroes  were 

»  Minutes  of   Council  and    House  of   Burgesses,  June  2,   1699, 
B.  T.  Va.f  vol.  Hi. 


Taxation :  The  Poll  Tax  547 

procured  led  to  the  extension  of  the  area  of  land  under 
cultivation;  the  number  of  slaves  became  perhaps  the 
truest  indication  of  the  means  of  a  land-owner,  for 
through  them,  a  higher  degree  of  profit  could  be  de- 
rived from  the  soil  than  even  through  white  servants. 
In  taxing  the  tithables  of  each  estate, — who,  towards 
the  close  of  the  century,  were  chiefly  negroes, — the 
Assembly,  county,  and  parish  really  taxed  the  owners 
greatest  source  of  wealth;  and  as  the  slaves  grew  in 
number,  the  rich  came  to  bear  more  and  more  the 
different  public  burdens. 


CHAPTER  XXXVI 
Taxation:  The  Tithables 

NUMEROUS  Acts  were  passed  during  the  Seven- 
teenth century  simply  to  define  precisely  what 
section  of  the  community  constituted  tithables. 
The  first  poll  tax,  which  was  adopted  in  1623,  was 
imposed  on  every  " planter"  above  eighteen  years  of 
age  residing  in  the  Colony,  whilst  the  second,  adopted 
after  a  short  interval,  was  imposed  upon  every  male 
person  whose  age  exceeded  sixteen.  It  was  required 
by  law  in  1657-8  that  all  white  male  servants  under 
articles  of  indenture  imported  into  Virginia  after  that 
date,  however  young,  should  be  made  subject  to  the 
county  levies;  and  that  all  imported  negro  slaves,  above 
sixteen  years  of  age,  whether  male  or  female,  should  be 
held  equally  liable.  The  children  of  natives  of  the 
Colony  professing  the  Christian  faith  were  not  to  be 
included  among  the  tithables  until  their  age  should 
exceed  sixteen  years;  and  the  same  rule  applied  to  the 
children  of  freemen  who,  before  or  after  their  children's 
birth,  had  settled  in  Virginia.  In  166 1-2,  these  regu- 
lations were  readopted.  Indian  servants  were  now 
sufficiently  numerous  to  be  brought  within  the  scope 
of  the  same  law,  and  they  also  became  subject  to  the 
poll  tax  as  soon  as  they  had  reached  their  sixteenth 
year.1     By  an  Act  passed  in  1662,  all  women  who  were 

«  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  i.,  p.  454 ;  vol.  ii.,  p.  84.     See  also  Revised 
Acts,  Colonial  Entry  Book,  vol.  lxxxix.,  p.  21. 

548 


Taxation  :  The  Tithables  549 

commonly  engaged  in  working  the  fields  were  to  be 
reported  as  tithables ;  and  it  was  within  the  province  of 
the  county  court  to  decide  whether  or  not  a  woman, 
however  employed  by  her  master,  came  within  the  scope 
of  this  designation.1 

The  officers  appointed  to  make  out  a  full  list  of  all 
tithables  residing  in  a  county  were,  in  1672,  instructed 
to  report  the  whole  number  of  negro,  mulatto,  and 
Indian  children,  with  a  statement  as  to  their  respective 
ages  sworn  to  by  their  masters.  As  an  additional  pre- 
caution, the  owners  of  such  children  were  required  to 
enter  the  latter* s  names  in  the  parish  register  within 
twelve  months  after  the  date  of  birth;  and  should  this 
regulation  be  disregarded  or  neglected  by  any  one, 
he  was,  in  every  such  instance,  to  be  compelled  to  pay 
the  poll  tax  just  as  if  the  child  were  really  of  the  tithable 
age.2  About  eight  years  after  the  adoption  of  this 
rule,  it  was  thought  to  be  so  unfair  that  children, 
whether  white  or  black,  should  be  made  subject  to  the 
poll  tax  at  a  time  when,  by  reason  of  their  youth, 
they  were  physically  incapable  of  work,  that  an  Act 
was  passed  requiring  the  owner  of  young  negro  slaves 
imported  into  the  Colony,  to  bring  them  into  court 
within  three  months  after  their  arrival  in  Virginia,  there 
to  have  their  respective  ages  correctly  adjudged  and 
permanently  recorded.  Such  children  were  not  to  be 
accounted  tithable  until  they  had  reached  their  twelfth 
year,  whilst  no  imported  white  servant  was  to  be 
made  liable  to  the  poll  tax  until  his  or  her  fourteenth 
year  had  been  passed.3     The  age  at  which  the  Indian 

»  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  ii.,  pp.  170,  187.  Every  negro  woman 
who  had  been  emancipated  was  required  to  pay  the  poll  tax;  see 
Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  i.,  p.  267. 

2  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  ii.,  p.  296. 

3  Ibid.,  p.  480. 


55©  Political  Condition 

woman  was  subjected  to  the  same  tax  was  fixed  at  her 
sixteenth  year;  and  this  appears  also  to  have  been 
the  age  at  which  the  negro  woman  born  in  the  Colony 
became  a  tithable.1  All  servants  imported  into 
Virginia  by  merchants  and  remaining  unsold  up  to 
June  ioth,  were  not  bound  to  be  listed  that  year  for 
taxation.2  At  the  close  of  the  century,  the  persons 
subject  to  the  poll  tax  were  all  white  persons  of  the 
male  sex  whose  age  exceeded  sixteen,  all  white  women 
employed  in  tilling  the  ground,  and  all  slaves,  both 
male  and  female,  who,  if  born  in  Virginia,  had  passed 
their  twelfth  year,  or  if  imported,  their  fourteenth.3 

How  were  tithables  listed  for  taxation?  The  rule 
in  1646  was  for  each  county  court  to  appoint  ''able 
and  discreet  persons  "  to  draw  up  a  complete  list  of  all 
tithables  residing  within  the  boundaries  of  the  county; 
and  this  list,  so  soon  as  it  was  made  out,  had  to  be  re- 
turned to  the  justices,  who,  having  examined  and  found 
it  satisfactory,  in  their  turn  transmitted  it  to  the  office 
of  the  Secretary  at  Jamestown  for  submission  to  the 
House.  By  this  means,  the  Burgesses  were,  from  year 
to  year,  kept  informed  as  to  the  taxable  basis  of  the 
Colony  at  large.4 

>  Colonial  Entry  Book,  vol.  lxxxix.,  p.  140. 

2  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  ii.,  p.  488. 

3  Letter  of  Andros,  April  22,  1697,  B.  T.  Va.,  vol.  vi.,  p.  74. 

4  A  full  list  for  all  the  counties  will  be  found  in  B.  T.  Va.,  1699, 
vol.  vii.,  p.  319.  In  1646,  lands,  cattle,  horses,  etc.,  formed  a  part 
of  the  basis  of  taxation;  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  i.,  pp.  306,  329. 
The  collectors  chosen  in  accord  with  the  provisions  of  the  Act  of 
1647  were  ordered  to  exhibit  a  complete  list  of  the  tithable  persons 
residing  within  their  respective  limits;  see  Lower  County  Norfolk 
Records,  vol.  1646-51,  p.  94.  "Ordered  by  this  Court  that  ye  several 
persons  hereunto  mentioned,  ordered  and  appointed  within  their 
severall  precincts  for  their  bringinge  in  of  their  sev'rall  Lists  of  all 
tythable  persons,  and  of  their  severall  ages,  shall  bringe  ye  same 


Taxation:  The  Tithables  551 

A  statute  adopted  in  1657-8  required  the  head  of 
every  household  to  return  a  list  of  the  tithables  em- 
braced in  his  own  family;  and  this,  no  doubt,  included, 
not  only  his  own  children,  but  also  every  person  in  his 
employment.  This  list  was  to  be  made  out  during  the 
month  of  June,  and  presented  to  the  clerk  of  the  county 
court.1  It  was  not  long  before  it  was  perceived  that 
heads  of  families  could  not  be  trusted  with  implicit 
confidence  to  draw  up  a  complete  list  of  the  tithables, 
for  even  when  not  actually  dishonest,  they  were  dis- 
posed to  stretch  every  possible  point  in  their  own  favor. 
When  this  fact  came  to  be  clearly  recognized,  the  law 
was  repealed,  and  the  sheriffs  were  impowered  to  make 
out  the  lists.2  This  duty  seems,  in  some  of  the  counties, 
to  have  been  assigned  to  the  constables3;  but  these 
officers'  reports,  no  doubt,  had  to  be  examined  by  the 
sheriffs  before  being  submitted  to  the  justices.  There 
was  still  so  much  fraudulency  in  the  returns  that, 
two  years  afterwards,  the  General  Assembly  passed  an 
Act  requiring  each  county  to  be  divided  into  several  tax 
precincts,  and  a  special  commissioner  to  be  appointed 
in  each  to  draw  up  an  accurate  list  of  the  resident 
tithables.  This  list,  which  was  to  be  handed  in  to 
the  county  court  at  its  August  sitting,  was  to  be  ac- 
companied by  the  reports  made  to  the  commissioner 
by  each  head  of  a  family  as  to  the  number  of  tithables 
embraced  in  his  household.  The  clerk  of  the  county 
court  was  required  to  transmit  all  these  papers  to  the 

to  the  clerke  of  ye  Court  by  ye  Fifteenth  day  of  July  next  ensuing, 
vizt. "  The  boundaries  of  the  several  precincts  are  then  denned; 
see  Lower  Norfolk  County  Records,  vol.  1651—56,  p.  12. 

1  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  i.,  p.  454. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  521. 

3  See  Lower  Norfolk  County  Records  for  1658. 


552  Political  Condition 

clerk  of  the  General  Assembly  not  later  than  the 
second  day  of  the  September  term  of  the  General 
Court.1  Under  the  provisions  of  this  comprehensive 
Act,  all  the  counties,  as  their  records  at  this  time  show, 
were  laid  off  in  precincts,  and  commissioners  named  to 
perform  the  special  duties  assigned  them.2 

The  justices  of  Lower  Norfolk,  in  1669,  assigned  to 
each  precinct  in  the  county  one  of  their  own  number  as 
the  officer  impowered  to  draw  up  a  complete  list  of  the 
tithables  residing  in  that  precinct  at  this  time.3  This 
rule  appears  to  have  also  prevailed  elsewhere  in  the 
Colony;  and  it  remained  very  generally  in  force  down  to 
the  end  of  the  century.  In  each  precinct,  the  head  of 
every  family  to  be  found  there  continued,  during  this 
long  period,  to  report  the  number  of  tithables  subject 
to  his  authority;  this  was  done  every  year,  certainly 
after  1680,  between  the  first  and  tenth  of  June;  and  at 
such  place  as  the  justice,  or  special  commissioner  for  that 
precinct,  had  beforehand  publicly  chosen  for  the  pur- 
pose. As  soon  as  the  list  for  each  precinct  had  been 
submitted  to  the  county  court  as  a  body,  an  order  was 
issued  that  it  should  be  set  up  at  the  door  of  the  court- 
house, so  that  the  failure  of  any  householder  to  report 
the  full  number  of  his  tithables  might  be  detected  by 
the  other  taxpayers,  who  were  always  eager  to  expose 

1  The  Commissioner's  first  step  towards  obtaining  the  lists  of 
the  tithables  residing  in  his  district  was  to  give  a  notice  in  writing 
(which  was  read  and  set  up  at  the  door  of  the  church  or  chapel-of- 
ease)  of  the  limits  of  his  special  precinct,  and  of  the  day  on  which 
the  lists  must  be  brought  in.  This  day  was  to  precede  June  10; 
Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  ii.,  pp.  19,  84. 

2  For  examples,  see  York  County  Records,  vol.  1657-62,  p.  419, 
Va.  St.  Libr.  Northampton  County  Records,  vol.  1657-64,  folio, 
p.  167.  The  Act  was  renewed  in  1663;  see  Hening's  Statutes,  vol. 
ii.,  p.  187. 

3  Lower  Norfolk  County  Records,  Orders  June  16,  1669. 


if 

^^^  Taxation :  The  Tithables  553       AV\  vi 

Csuch  delinquency,  as  it  increased  their  own  burden  by  v  $r  *^ / 
diminishing  the  number  of  persons  subject  to  the  levy.  V  >  / 
One  of  the  complaints  offered  by  the  counties  to  the  ^ 
English  Commissioners  after  the  collapse  of  the  In- 
surrection of  1676  was  that  the  justices  and  clerks  of 
the  county  courts  had,  for  some  years,  declined  to  pub- 
lish these  lists,  and  had  thus  deprived  the  people  of 
the  opportunity  of  discovering  any  error  or  fraud  on 
the  part  of  heads  of  families  in  stating  the  number  of 
their  tithables.1  A  false  return  to  the  commissioner 
of  a  precinct  was,  from  an  early  date,  punished  with 
severity.  The  penalty  in  1646  for  concealing  a  tith- 
able  was  fixed  at  double  the  quantity  of  tobacco 
payable  had  his  existence  been  reported;  this  was 
afterwards  increased  to  treble  the  quantity  and  so  con- 
tinued to  a  period  as  late  as  1662. 2  In  the  closing 
years  of  the  century,  the  penalty  for  concealing  a 
tithable  was  his  confiscation  if  he  happened  to  be  a 
slave.3 

The  number  of  tithables  found  in  the  Colony  during 
the  Seventeenth  century  steadily  increased  with  its 

1  Winder  Papers,  vol.  ii.,  p.  207;  see  also  Henrico  County  Minute 
Book,  1682-1701,  p.  53,  Va.  St.  Libr. ;  Essex  County  Records, 
Orders  May  10,  1692;  Lower  Norfolk  County  Records,  Orders  July 
19,  1693;  York  County  Records,  Orders  May  24,  1694;  Elizabeth 
City  County  Records,  Orders  May  18,  1696;  Present  State  of  Vir- 
ginia, 1697-8,  section  ix. 

2  The  exact  language  of  the  statute  of  1646  was:  "All  persons  con- 
cealing shall  for  every  tithable  &c  pay  double  the  rate  this  present 
General  Assembly  hath  assessed";  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  i.,  pp. 
329,  454;  vol.  ii.,  p.  84.  An  offence  of  this  kind  was  denned  "as 
a  fraudulent  intention  to  enlarge  the  taxes  of  such  of  his  Majesty's 
subjects  as  do  conform  to  the  laws."  That  it  was  sometimes 
sought  to  conceal  more  than  one  tithable  is  shown  by  the  charge 
brought  against  Mrs.  Nicholas  Spencer,  in  1692,  of  not  returning 
twelve;  see  Westmoreland  County  Records,  Orders  Feb.  22,  1692. 

3  Present  State  of  Virginia,  1697-8,  section  ix. 


554  Political  Condition 

growth  in  wealth  and  population.  Culpeper,  in  1681, 
estimated  the  number  at  fourteen  thousand;  and  before 
the  year  1700  arrived,  the  fourteen  thousand  had 
swelled  to  about  twenty  thousand.1  The  number  of 
tithables  owned  by  individual  planters  varied  very 
widely, — as  widely,  indeed,  as  the  areas  of  their  respec- 
tive landed  estates.  The  condition  in  this  respect 
prevailing  in  Surry  county  from  1668  to  1700  was  fairly 
representative  of  all  the  counties.  In  the  course  of 
1668,  the  average  number  of  tithables  to  each  landowner 
residing  in  Southwark  parish  was  only  two,  whilst  the 
greatest  number  reported  by  any  single  citizen  of  that 
parish  did  not  exceed  six.  Benjamin  Harrison  sub- 
mitted a  list  of  five,  but  as  he  was  a  member  of  the  House, 
he,  no  doubt,  took  advantage  of  his  right  as  a  Burgess 
to  obtain  a  release  from  the  taxation  of  the  additional 
tithables  in  his  possession.  During  the  same  year, 
there  were  three  planters  owning  estates  in  Lawne's 
Creek  parish  who  respectively  reported  a  list  of  eight; 
the  average  number  to  the  land-owner  at  this  time, 
however,  still  did  not  exceed  two.  One  citizen  only  in 
1669  returned  so  great  a  number  as  thirteen  tithables ; 
the  next  followed  with  but  six.  During  1670,  the 
principal  taxpayers  seem  to  have  been  Arthur  Allan, 
who  possessed  twelve  tithables,  Charles  Amry,  who 
possessed  eight,  and  Colonel  Thomas  Swann,  who 
possessed  seven.  Swann  was  a  member  of  the  Council, 
and  as  such  exempted  from  the  requirement  of  making 
a  full  return.  The  number  of  tithables  reported  in  1 6 7 4 
by  Francis  Mason  was  ten ;  by  George  Jordan,  eight ;  and 
by  Nicholas  Meriweather,  seven.      In  the  succeeding 

1  British  Colonial  Papers,  vol.  xlvii.,  No.  105;  Present  State  of 
Virginia,  i6gy-8,  section  ix. ;  B.  T.  Va.,  1698,  vol.  vi.,  p.  74; 
vol.  vii.,  p.  319. 


Taxation :  The  Tithables  555 

year,  Mason  gave  in  a  list  of  fourteen  tithables,  seven 
of  whom  were  negro  slaves.  The  number  reported  in 
the  same  year  by  Robert  Canfield  was  six;  by  Colonel 
Swann,  seven;  by  Lawrence  Baker  and  Rev.  William 
Thompson,  eight  respectively;  and  by  Arthur  Allan, 
nine.  The  general  average  of  the  number  owned  in 
the  several  precincts  in  1675  ranged  from  one  and  a 
tenth  to  two  and  a  third,  whilst,  in  1688,  the  average  in 
some  precincts  rose  to  three,  but  in  the  majority  did 
not  exceed  two.  During  this  year,  the  largest  number 
of  tithables  returned  was  fourteen;  there  were  also 
holdings  of  ten,  eight,  and  six  reported.1 

»  See  Surry  County  Records  for  these  different  years.  In  1666, 
the  highest  number  of  tithables  returned  by  any  single  landowner 
of  Northampton  county  was  fifteen,  the  next  highest,  ten,  and  the 
next,  eight;  see  Va.  Maga.  of  Hist.  andBiog.,  vol.  x.,  pp.  194,  258. 


CHAPTER  XXXVII 
Taxation:  The  Assessment 

WHO  assessed  the  levies  ?  The  assessment  for  the 
parish  levy  was  made  by  the  vestry.  The 
duty  of  apportioning  the  public  levy  no  doubt 
fell  on  the  House's  Committee  on  Claims,  who,  however, 
were  required  to  submit  their  decision  to  the  full  House 
for  approval.  The  proportion  to  be  borne  by  each 
tithable  was  obtained  by  dividing  the  total  amount 
of  the  assessment  by  the  whole  number  of  tithables 
residing  in  the  Colony  as  reported  to  the  Secretary's 
office  by  the  justices  of  the  different  county  courts. 
The  apportionment  for  public  purposes  was  of  two 
kinds: — first,  the  one  made  for  an  object  promotive 
of  the  welfare  of  all  the  counties,  and,  therefore,  falling 
upon  them  all  in  proportion  to  their  respective  number 
of  tithables;  second,  the  apportionment  made  in  part 
for  all  the  counties,  and  in  part  for  particular  ones. 
The  latter  section  of  this  second  apportionment  was 
imposed  on  these  particular  counties  alone,  and  to  that 
extent,  the  burden  was  unequal;  but  this  was  not  un- 
just, as  they  alone  had  enjoyed  the  benefit,  for  which 
the  restricted  tax  had  been  laid. 

Let  us  first  consider  the  apportionment  which  was 
general  in  its  scope.  The  amount  of  this  differed  from 
year  to  year,  as  may  be  shown  by  actual  instances. 

556 


Taxation:  The  Assessment  557 

In  1623-4,  the  tax  imposed  upon  every  male  head  in 
the  Colony  above  sixteen  years  of  age  was  fixed  at  ten 
pounds  of  tobacco;  this  was  a  special  levy  to  provide 
funds  to  meet  the  outlay  of  a  projected  expedition 
against  the  Indians.1  Fifteen  years  later,  there  was 
another  special  levy,  this  time  of  four  pounds  per  poll, 
for  the  benefit  of  the  Governor,  whose  services  were 
thought  to  be  deserving  of  particular  recognition.2 
Both  of  these  assessments  were  small  in  volume;  but 
when  it  was  designed  to  cover  all  the  public  expenses, 
the  amount  to  be  paid  even  by  the  individual  taxpayer 
represented  a  large  sum;  for  example,  in  1640,  the  tax 
imposed  on  each  tithable  rose  to  one  hundred  and 
eighty  pounds  of  tobacco.3  Three  years  afterwards, 
however,  it  sank  to  nine  pounds.4  In  1682,  the  public 
assessment  amounted  to  eighty-nine  pounds  per  poll ;  in 
1 69 1,  to  eighteen  and  a  half  pounds;  in  1692,  to  seven- 
teen and  a  quarter;  in  1693,  to  thirteen  and  three 
quarters;  in  1694,  to  twenty-one;  in  1695^0  twenty-two 
and  three  quarters;  in  1696,  to  sixteen;  and  in  1699, 
to  nineteen.5  Unless  there  was  some  extraordinary 
public  expense  to  swell  the  levy,  the  average  tax  per 
poll  for  public  purposes  seems  rarely  to  have  exceeded 
twenty  pounds  of  tobacco.  It  was  well  that  the  public 
assessment  was  generally  light,  for  had  it  been  heavy, 
it  would,  when  added  to  the  county  and  parish  levies, 
have  created  a  burden  which  would  have  been  intol- 
erable. 

«  British  Colonial  Papers,  vol.  iii.,  No.  9. 

2  Acts  of  Assembly,  1639,  Robinson  Transcripts,  p.  232. 

3  Robinson  Transcripts,  p.  22. 

*  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  i.,  p.  279. 

5  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1682-95,  p.  93;  see  also  entries  in  same 
volume  for  April  28,  1692;  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  iii.,  pp.  97,  106, 
124,  i35- 


558  Political  Condition 

If  the  public  assessment  fell  more  onerously  on  one 
county  than  on  another,  it  was  always  due  to  the  fact 
that  the  county  more  heavily  taxed  had  enjoyed  some 
special  advantage  at  the  public  expense.  York,  for 
instance,  with  twice  as  many  tithables  residing  within 
its  borders  as  Isle  of  Wight  possessed,  might  neverthe- 
less be  called  upon  in  a  single  levy  to  pay  only  one 
half  as  much,  simply  because  the  benefit  it  had  obtained, 
as  compared  with  that  obtained  by  Isle  of  Wight,  was 
just  one  half  as  great.  This  difference  constituted  the 
basis  of  the  relative  tax  proportion.  When  the  assess- 
ment was  of  a  mixed  special  and  general  character, 
it  was  customary  first  to  designate  the  amount  to  be 
paid  by  the  Colony  at  large;  which  was  proportioned 
to  each  county  according  to  the  number  of  tithables 
among  its  inhabitants.  There  was  levied,  in  1682,  a 
tax  amounting,  as  a  whole,  to  1,349,418  pounds  of 
tobacco;  and  of  this  large  sum,  699,953  pounds  were 
contributed  by  the  counties  in  proportion  to  their 
respective  number  of  tithables;  while  the  remainder 
was  contributed  by  the  several  counties  deriving  special 
benefit  from  some  public "  service  extended  to  them 
alone.  Each  county  obtained  full  information  as  to 
the  share  of  the  public  charges  which  it  was  expected 
to  defray,  from  a  copy  of  the  "  list  of  the  public 
levy"  furnished  by  the  clerk  of  the  House  of 
Burgesses.1 

The  county  levy  was  assessed  by  the  justices  of  the 
county  court.     As  this  constituted  the  most  onerous 

1  Middlesex  County  Records,  Orders  October  2,  1677;  Colonial 
Entry  Book,  1682-95,  pp.  75,  93.  The  levy  for  1684  amounted  to 
702,423  pounds  of  tobacco.  In  the  Henrico  County  Levy  for 
Oct.  12,  1 69 1,  an  allowance  was  made  Peter  Beverley,  the  clerk 
of  the  House,  for  a  copy  of  the  "List  of  the  Public  Levy";  see 
Records,  vol.  1688-97,  P-  249,  Va.  St.  Libr. 


Taxation:  The  Assessment  559 

tax  borne  by  the  people,  it  was  not  unnatural  that  the 
judges'  fairness  in  drawing  up  the  list  of  expenses  to  be 
paid  was  sometimes  subjected  to  popular  suspicion." 
This  suspicion,  as  we  have  seen,  was  especially  strong 
during  the  last  sittings  of  the  Long  Assembly;  and 
there  was  probably  then  just  ground  for  its  entertain- 
ment, since  the  bad  example  set  by  that  body  had 
exercised  a  demoralizing  influence  upon  every  other 
public  body  convening  in  the  Colony.  When,  in  1676, 
the  General  Assembly,  acting  under  the  inspiration  of 
Bacon  and  his  immediate  supporters,  undertook  to 
remedy  the  serious  abuses  which  had  crept  in  during 
the  more  recent  of  the  previous  years,  it  expressly 
stated  that  it  was  only  in  some  counties  that  the  justices 
were  supposed  to  have  inserted  improper  grants  in  the 
levies  in  their  desire  to  show  favor  to  particular  persons. 
The  General  Assembly,  however,  considered  the  charge 
against  these  officers  sufficiently  well  founded  to  make 
expedient  the  passage  of  an  Act  which  provided,  as  a 
means  of  checking  any  possible  unscrupulousness  on 
their  part,  that  thereafter  "  some  of  the  discreetest  and 
ablest"  of  the  inhabitants  of  each  county,  equal  in 
number  to  the  number  of  the  justices,  should  be  yearly 
chosen  by  a  majority  of  the  "  householders,  freeholders 
and  freemen  of  each  parish  " ;  and  these,  together  with 
the  churchwardens  and  the  justices  themselves,  were 
to  lay  the  county  levy.1  This  regulation  remained 
in  force  for  a  short  time  only,  either  because  it 
proved  cumbrous  and  inconvenient,  or  because, 
which  seems  more  probable,  confidence  in  the 
justices  had  returned  with  the  improvement  in 
the  administration  of  public  affairs,  for  to  the  latter 

*  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  ii.,  p.  357. 


560  Political  Condition 

was  again  confided  the  exclusive  task  of  laying  the 
county  levy. l 

In  making  the  annual  assessment,  the  justices  of  each 
county,  no  doubt,  met  in  their  usual  apartment  in  the 
court  house.2  The  same  month  was  not  adopted  in  all 
the  counties  as  the  time  for  laying  the  levy;  in  some,  the 
justices  appear  to  have  convened  for  this  purpose  in 
October;  in  others,  in  November.  Sometimes,  the 
justices  of  the  same  county  would  meet  in  October, 
sometimes  in  November;  and  should  no  quorum  be 
present  at  the  November  session,  they  would  again 
assemble  in  December.3  The  levy  was  laid  towards 
the  end  of  autumn  because  the  crop  of  tobacco  for  the 
year  had,  by  that  time,  been  cured,  and  was  ready  for 
shipment  to  England. 

In  making  off  the  county  levy,  the  ordinary  course 
seems  to  have  been  to  draw  up  a  list  of  the  amounts  due 
to  persons  in  whose  debt  the  county  stood  for  various 
forms  of  service.  These  amounts  were  then  added  up, 
and  the  total  sum  thus  obtained  was  divided  by  the 

1  Culpeper,  who  was  in  the  habit  of  employing  vigorous  language, 
which  probably  expressed  more  than  he  really  meant,  declared 
that  "the  county  levy  was  most  commonly  managed  by  sly,  cheat- 
ing fellows  that  continue  to  defraud  the  public. "  He  then  perhaps 
disclosed  his  real  purpose  in  using  such  defamatory  words  by 
remarking:  "The  levy  ought  to  be  inspected  and  supervised  by 
the  Government";  see  British  Colonial  Papers,  vol.  xlvii.,  p.  105. 

2  In  1677,  Surry  county  complained  to  the  English  Commis- 
sioners that  the  justices,  in  laying  the  levy,  retired  to  their  private 
room.  As  this  conduct  was  made  a  ground  of  grievance,  it  was,  no 
doubt,  characteristic  only  of  the  demoralized  period  preceding 
the  Insurrection  of  1676;  see  Surry  County  Grievances,  1677, 
Winder  Papers,  vol.  ii.,  p.  162. 

3  See  Proclamation  of  Andros  requiring  York  county  justices  to 
meet  in  December.  The  number  of  justices  present  on  the  usual 
day  in  November  for  laying  the  levy  had  not  been  sufficient  to 
transact  business;  see  York  County  Records,  vol.  1694-97,  p.  327, 
Va.  St.  Libr. 


Taxation :  The  Assessment  561 

number  of  tithables  shown  by  the  last  reports  of  the 
precinct  commissioners  to  be  residents  of  the  county; 
in  this  way,  the  proportion  to  be  paid  by  each  tithable 
was  ascertained. 

For  sake  of  convenience,  the  assessments  for  public, 
county,  and  parish  purposes  were  generally  embraced 
in  the  same  levy,  but  the  items  belonging  to  each 
account  were  kept  separate. l  The  laying  of  the  county 
and  parish  taxes  was  not  infrequently  deferred  in  order 
that  the  public  assessment  might  be  included;  if,  how- 
ever, the  House,  without  agreeing  upon  such  assessment, 
adjourned  to  a  date  so  late  in  the  year  that  all  the 
tobacco  of  the  preceding  season  was,  by  that  time, 
certain  to  have  been  disbursed  in  one  way  or  another, 
then  the  county  court,  unwilling  to  run  any  risk,  pro- 
ceeded to  lay  the  county  levy  without  waiting  until  the 
details  of  the  public  had  been  formulated.2 

The  rates  at  which  tobacco  was  to  be  valued  in  mak- 
ing out  the  levy  were  fixed  from  time  to  time ;  and  were 
always  governed  more  or  less  by  the  contemporary 
prices  prevailing  in  the  English  market.  As  the 
production  of  the  commodity  increased,  these  rates 
steadily  fell  off, — in  16 19,  tobacco  of  the  best  quality 
was  sold  for  three  shillings  a  pound,  and  tobacco  of  the 
meanest  for  one  shilling  and  sixpence;  whilst  in  1645, 
the  average  price  did  not  exceed  threepence,  a  decline 
in  two  decades  and  a  half  of  about  two  shillings  a 
pound.  The  average  price  had,  by  1661,  further 
shrunk  to  twopence;  twenty-one  years  later,  a 
pound    of    tobacco    of   the    finest   quality  was   sold 

»  See  for  an  example,  levy  for  November  9,  1 681,  in  Northumber- 
land Records. 

2  An  instance  is  recorded   in   Henrico   County   Minute    Book, 
1 682-1 701,  p.  115,  Va.  St.  Libr. 
vol.  n — 36 


562  Political  Condition 

for  this  amount,  but  if  of  an  inferior  quality,  for  one 
penny  only. i 

From  an  early  period  in  the  Colony's  history,  exemp- 
tion from  the  poll  tax  was  either  permanently  or  tem- 
porarily allowed  for  special  reasons.  In  February, 
1623-4,  the  General  Assembly  conferred  this  privilege 
upon  all  planters  who  were  residing  in  Virginia  previous 
to  Sir  Thomas  Gates's  last  arrival,  or  who  had  come  in 
with  him  on  that  occasion;  and  the  like  privilege  was 
also  extended  "to  their  posterity,"  a  term  embracing, 
no  doubt,  only  the  children  of  the  first  generation. 
Even  this  remaining  band  of  first  settlers  were  required 
to  pay  the  dues  assessed  for  the  support  of  the  clergy 
and  the  maintenance  of  the  Church.2  The  same 
Act  was  renewed  thirty-five  or  more  years  after  its 
first  passage,  although,  at  this  time,  the  survivors  of 
that  early  period,  or  even  the  children  of  those  who  had 
lived  down  to  a  date  as  late  as  1624,  could  not  have 
been  numerous;  but  this  fact  gave  all  the  more  senti- 
mental distinction  to  the  exemption  in  their  favor.3 

Exemption  from  the  poll  tax  was  sometimes  allowed 
to  persons  who  had  agreed  to  settle  at  some  point  on 
the  frontier  considered  to  be  peculiarly  dangerous  from 
its  liability  to  Indian  incursions;  such  was  the  return 

»  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  i.,  p.  3 1 6 ;  vol.  ii.,  pp.  99,  506 ;  Burke's  His- 
tory of  Virginia,  Appendix  xlv. ;  Present  State  of  Virginia,  16QJ-8 

2  British  Colonial  Papers,  vol.  iii.,  N0/9. 

3  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  i.,  p.  460;  vol.  ii.,  p.  84.  About  1662, 
John  West  and  his  family  were  exempted  from  the  payment  of  the 
poll  tax  in  consideration  of  the  services  of  their  ancestors;  see  Hen- 
ing's Statutes,  vol.  i.,  p.  547.  We  find  the  following  entry  in  the 
Northampton  Records  (vol.  1657-64,  p.  18),  which  is  interesting 
as  showing  the  popular  spirit  prevailing  during  the  time  of  the 
Commonwealth:  "This  day  Mr.  Francis  Broughton  petitioned  to 
be  freed  from  taxes,  which  was  granted  by  ye  Commissioners  and 
by  ye  consent  of  ye  People. " 


Taxation :  The  Assessment  563 

made,  at  an  early  date,  to  those  who  had  seated  them- 
selves on  lands  situated  between  the  heads  of  Archer's 
Hope  and  Queen  creeks.  As  a  rule,  exemption  for 
such  a  reason  was  to  last  only  for  a  definite  period.1 
In  1 66 1-2,  relief  from  the  poll  tax  for  a  specified 
time  was  granted  to  all  artisans  who,  having  given 
up  cultivating  tobacco,  were  devoting  themselves 
exclusively  to  the  pursuit  of  their  trades.2 

This  privilege  was  sometimes  allowed  to  a  person 
prevented  from  working  in  the  fields  by  some  physical 
disability  with  which  he  was  afflicted.  For  instance, 
in  1686,  Samuel  Goare,  of  Rappahannock,  asked  for 
relief  from  the  poll  tax  on  the  ground  that  he  had  lost 
one  of  his  arms;  and  there  were  four  petitions  of  the 
same  general  character  presented  to  the  justices  of  this 
county  in  the  same  year,  and  on  the  same  occasion.3 
About  1645,  Robert  Porter  and  Robert  Jones,  two  citi- 
zens of  Lower  Norfolk,  were  exempted  on  account  of 
their  great  age,  a  reason  frequently  accepted  by  the 
justices,  especially  if  the  petitioner  had  long  resided 
in  the  county,  and  possessed  no  laborers  to  produce 
crops  of  corn  and  tobacco  for  his  support.  Sometimes, 
advanced  years  were  considered  to  be  a  sufficient 
excuse  simply  because  the  petitioner  was  hard  pressed 
to  maintain  a  large  family  of  young  children.*     In 

»  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  i.,  p.  199. 

2  Ibid.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  85;  see  also  p.  179. 

3  Rappahannock  County  Records,  Orders  May  19,  July  7,  1686. 
A  father  was  generally  relieved  of  payment  of  the  poll  tax  in  the 
case  of  an  idiot  son;  see  Henrico  County  Minute  Book,  1 682-1 701, 
p.  229,  Va.  St.  Libr. 

*  Lower  Norfolk  County  Records,  Orders  June  16,  1645,  Dec. 
10,  1673;  also  vol.  1646-51,  p.  157.  The  following  is  from  the 
Henrico  Records:  "Evan  Owen,  an  aged,  indigent  person  having 
a  wife  and  two  small  children,  exempted  from  tax";  see  Minute 
Book  1 682-1 70 1,  p.  54,  Va.  St.  Libr. 


564  Political  Condition 

granting  relief  on  the  score  of  age,  no  discrimination 
was  made  against  persons  of  the  African  race.  Among 
the  tithables  of  that  race  who  sought  relief  was  Abram 
Saby,  of  Elizabeth  City,  who  claimed  to  be  one  hundred 
years  old.  A  negro  woman,  also  a  resident  of  this 
county,  obtained,  about  1696,  the  same  privilege  on 
the  score  of  age  almost  as  great.1 

Relief  from  the  poll  tax  was  granted  to  black  as  well 
as  to  white  persons  on  account  of  their  long  residence  in 
the  Colony.  In  1652,  for  instance,  Anthony  and  Martha 
Johnson,  of  Northampton  county,  were  exempted  be- 
cause they  had  been  living  in  Virginia  for  more  than 
thirty  years,  a  fact  indicating  that  they  had  arrived  in 
the  James  River  as  a  part  of  the  memorable  cargo  of 
the  Dutch  ship  which  had  landed  so  many  slaves  in 
16 19.  In  passing  favorably  on  their  petition,  the 
court  dwelt  upon  their  prolonged  labors,  and  the  good 
example  they  had  set  in  obtaining  their  livelihood,  and 
also  upon  their  heavy  losses  in  a  recent  fire.  The 
exemption  was  also  extended  to  their  two  daughters, 
upon  whose  exertions  the  old  couple  were  now  probably 
dependent  for  their  subsistence.2 

»  Elizabeth  City  County  Records,  vol.  1684-99,  pp.  2,  117,  118; 
see  also  General  Court  Records,  Robinson  Transcripts,  p.  261. 

2  Northampton  County  Records,  vol.  1651-54,  folio  p.  161.  In 
a  case  presented  to  the  consideration  of  the  Henrico  county  jus- 
tices, in  1697,  it  was  decided  that  physical  disability  in  a  negro 
slave  was  not  a  sufficient  reason  for  granting  relief.  See  Records, 
Orders  June  1,  1697.  Sickness  was  a  frequent  ground  of  exemp- 
tion in  the  case  of  a  freeman  or  freewoman;  see,  for  instance, 
Elizabeth  City  County  Records,  vol.  1684-99,  pp.  11 7-1 8.  The  fol- 
lowing shows  that  the  justices  were  sometimes  imposed  on :  "Several 
persons,  inhabitants  in  this  county,  having  of  late  tymes  falsely 
represented  themselves  to  this  court  as  objects  of  their  charity, 
and  by  such  means  obtained  to  be  acquitted  from  payment  of 
levies  and  tithes,  thereby  abusing  this  court's  benignity  and  wrong- 
ing others  ...  for  remedy  whereof  for  the  future,  and  that  this 


Taxation :  The  Assessment  565 

As  has  already  been  pointed  out,  the  occupation  of 
certain  high  official  positions  carried  with  it  the  privi- 
lege of  relief  from  the  poll  tax.  By  the  law  of  166 1-2, 
each  member  of  the  Governor's  Council  was  granted 
exemption,  not  only  for  himself  as  one  individual, 
but  also  for  ten  of  his  servants,  from  all  public  charges 
except  those  imposed  for  the  maintenance  of  the 
clergy  and  the  Church.  Should  a  minister  filling  a 
pulpit  in  the  Colony  be  required  to  be  present  in  the 
General  Court  or  General  Assembly,  under  an  engage- 
ment, it  would  seem,  to  preach  for  a  definite  season, 
he  was  to  be  allowed  the  like  relief  for  himself  and  six 
of  his  dependants.1  The  Governor  and  his  servants 
were  also  exempted  from  the  operation  of  the  poll  tax2 ; 
and  so,  to  a  certain  extent,  were  the  Burgesses. 

What  was  the  amount  of  the  tax  generally  imposed 
by  the  county  levy  ?  This,  like  the  amount  assessed  in 
the  public  levy  varied  materially  from  year  to  year. 
The  grievances  submitted  by  the  several  counties  in 
1677  declared  that  the  poll  tax  collected  in  1675  was 
unprecedented  in  its  excessiveness.3  It  appears  that 
the  levy  for  this  year  was  made  especially  heavy  by  an 
effort  to  purchase  from  Culpeper  his  whole  interest  in 

court  may  not  be  futurely  imposed  on,  and  surprised  by  such 
impostors,  and  the  truly  necessitous  want  relief,  it  is  ordered  that 
henceforward  no  person  whatsoever  be  exempted  from  payment 
of  levies  by  order  of  this  court  but  such  as  shall  produce  a  certificate 
from  the  vestry  of  that  parish  where  they  inhabit  that  they  are 
objects  of  charity  and  are  allowed  a  maintenance  from  the  parish  " ; 
Westmoreland  County  Records,  Orders  May  25,  1692. 

1  Down  to  the  meeting  of  Bacon's  Assembly,  as  stated  already 
in  the  account  of  the  clergymen's  remuneration  (Part  I),  the  clergy- 
man, along  with  six  of  his  tithables,  was  exempted  from  taxation. 
After  that  date,  he  alone  was  relieved  from  the  different  levies. 

2  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  ii.,  pp.  84,  392. 

'  Winder  Papers,  vol.  ii.,  p.  230;  see  particularly  the  Grievances 
of  Rappahannock  County. 


566 


Political  Condition 


that  part  of  Virginia  known  as  the  Northern  Neck,1 — 
how  heavy  was  shown  by  the  fact  that,  independently 
of  the  assessment  for  county  and  parish  expenses,  the 
tax  amounted  to  sixty  pounds  of  tobacco  a  head.  In 
1678,  when  the  public  levy  alone  imposed  on  each 
taxpayer  a  burden  of  one  hundred  and  ten  pounds  of 
that  commodity  for  every  tithable  in  his  employment 
or  possession,  the  total  poll  tax, — public,  county,  and 
parish, — rose  in  some  counties  to  three  hundred  pounds 
a  head,  and  in  some  to  four  hundred  pounds,  the  greater 
proportion  of  which  represented  the  county  assessment.2 
In  time,  the  amount  of  the  county  poll  tax  fell  off,  but 
as  late  as  1692,  there  was  still  occasional  discontent 
expressed  as  to  its  onerousness;  in  the  course  of  that 
year,  George  Bruce,  of  Rappahannock,  submitted  a 
petition  to  the  Governor  and  Council  at  Jamestown,  in 
which  he  complained  of  the  abuse  of  the  tax  levy  in 
that  county;  but  when  called  on  to  prove  his  assertion 
in  the  presence  of  the  justices,  he  seems  to  have  made 
no  attempt  to  do  so.3 

The  following  tables,  based  upon  figures  obtained 
from  the  surviving  county  records,  are  fairly  represen- 
tative of  the  whole  Colony  during  the  years  designated : 


Table  i. 


Total  County  and  Public  Levies  in  Pounds 
of  Tobacco 


Year 


Total 
County- 


Total 
Public 


Lower  Norfolk 


1656-65 
1666-83 
1684-91 


158,600  lbs. 
188,809  " 
136,140  " 


118,394  lbs. 
82,276  " 
48,895  " 


»  See  Grievances  of  Stafford  County,  in  Winder  Papers,  vol.  ii. 
2  See   Letter  of  Daniel   Parke  to   Secretary  Williamson,  Jany. 
3,  1678,  British  Colonial  Papers,  vol.  xlii.,  No.  17,  I. 
*  Rappahannock  County  Records,  Orders  May  4,  1692. 


Taxation :  The  Assessment 


S67 


Table  i.     Total  County  and  Public  Levies  in  Pounds 
of  Tobacco— Continued 


Year 

Total 
County 

Total 
Public 

Henrico 

1677-87 
1692-96 

186,573  lbs- 
127,575  " 

132,469  lbs. 

32,206  " 

York 

1666-75 
1677-86 
1 690-9  7 

255,790  ;c 

218,709  " 
162,462  " 

217,920  " 
405,017  " 

Lancaster 

1653-62 
1663-73 
1674-83 
1687-99 

165,202  " 
281,953  " 
499,048  " 
250,925  " 

522,850  " 

24i,397  " 
85,486  M 
78,981  " 

Essex            

1692-99 

224,632  " 

49,568  " 

Middlesex 

1674-84 
1685-99 

318,8x5  " 
374,627  " 

142,252  " 
141,163  " 

Northumberland . , 

1666-75 
1677-93 

316,224  " 
575,432  " 

166,393  " 
480,788  " 

Table  ii.     Average  County  and  Public  Levies 


Year 

Average 

County 

Levy 

Average 

Public 

Levy 

Average 
per 
Poll 

Lower  Norfolk 

1656-65 
1666-83 
1685-91 

19,825  lbs. 
26,872    " 
19,460    " 

14,737  lbs. 

i6,455  " 
16,298  " 

64 
26 

Totals 

1656-91 

22,052    " 

15,830  " 

45 

York 

1666-75 
1677-86 
1690-97 

28,421    " 
27,338    " 
23,209    " 

81,003 

34 
61 
20 

Totals 

1666-97 

26,321    " 

56,061  " 

38 

Lancaster 

1653-62 
1663-73 
1674-83 
1687-99 

20,650    " 
25,632    " 
55,449    ' 

20,910    , 

26,142  " 
2i,945  " 
21,371   " 
11,283   " 

49 

62 

ii8 

39 

Totals 

1653-99 

30,660    " 

20,185  " 

67 

Essex 

[1692-99 

32,081     " 

16,322  " 

46 

568  Political  Condition 

Table  ii.     Average  County  and  Public  Levies — Continued 


Year 

Average 
County- 
Levy 

Average 
Public 
Levy 

Average 
per 
Poll 

Middlesex 

1674-84 
1685-99 

39,850  lbs. 
26,759    " 

35,560  lbs. 
20,165  " 

97 
48 

Totals 

1674-99 

33,254    " 

27,862   " 

72 

Northumberland 

1666-75 
1677-93 

31,622    " 
32,084    " 

18,543   " 
53,443 

49 
86 

Totals 

1666-93 

31,853    " 
20,730    " 
25,5i7 

35.993  " 

67 

Henrico 

1677-87 
1692—96 

44,156  " 
8,049  " 

•** 

46 

Totals 

1677-96 

23,127    " 

26,102  " 

46 

Table  hi.     Total  Average  for  County  and  Public  Levies 


Year 

County- 
Levy 

Public 
Levy 

Average 
per 
Poll 

Lower  Norfolk 

1656-91 
1666-97 
1653-99 
1692-99 

1674-99 
1666—93 
1677-96 

22,052  lbs. 
26,321   " 
30,660  " 
32,081   " 
33,254  " 

31,853 ;; 
23,127 

15,830  lbs. 
56,061   " 
20,185  " 
16,322  " 
27,862  " 

35,993   " 
26,102   " 

45 
38 
67 
46 
72 
67 
46 

York 

Lancaster 

Essex 

Middlesex 

Northumberland 

Henrico 

Totals 

1656-99 

28,478 " 

28,336  " 

54 

Estimating  the  value  of  tobacco,  in  the  course  of  these 
forty  years,  at  about  two  pennies  a  pound,  the  general 
rule,  and  it  will  be  seen  by  an  examination  of  Table  III 
that,  during  that  period,  the  average  county  levy 
amounted  to  £237,  or,  in  purchasing  power,  to  about 
4500  dollars;  the  average  public  levy  to  £236,  or,  in 
purchasing  power,  to  about  4475  dollars;  and  the 
average  county  and  public  poll  tax  taken  together  to 


Taxation :  The  Assessment  569 

nine  shillings  or  in  purchasing  power  to  about  eight 
dollars.  These  estimates  would  be  materially  cut 
down  if  the  average  value  of  a  pound  of  tobacco,  during 
the  same  period,  were  reduced  to  a  penny  and  a  half. 


CHAPTER  XXXVIII 
Taxation :   Collection  of  Poll  Tax 

HOW  was  the  poll  tax  collected  ?  It  would  appear 
that,  in  the  beginning,  the  collection  of  this 
tax  was  one  of  the  most  important  duties 
performed  by  the  sheriff  of  each  county,  a  method  in 
accord  with  English  custom,  which  was  always  followed 
in  Virginia  unless  the  peculiar  circumstances  existing 
there  made  it  inconvenient  or  repugnant  to  the  public 
welfare  to  do  so.  For  instance,  in  1638,  the  sheriff 
of  Lower  Norfolk  was  instructed  to  collect  the  amount 
due  from  every  tithable  residing  in  that  county1;  and 
under  the  terms  of  an  agreement  between  the  sheriff 
and  undersheriff  of  Accomac,  drawn  up  in  1642,  the 
latter  bound  himself  to  attend  in  person  wherever  the 
planters  were  required  to  deliver  their  respective  shares, 
and  also  to  be  indefatigable  in  enforcing  the  payment 
of  the  total  sum  due  from  each.2  Five  years  after- 
wards, it  was  found  that  many  counties  were  so  wide 
in  area,  and  the  claims  upon  the  sheriffs'  time  and 
energies  were  so  multitudinous,  that  these  officers  were 
unable  to  show  the  necessary  promptness  and  thorough- 
ness in  collecting  the  taxes;  and  this  fact  so  impaired 
the  public  credit  that  it  was  considered  advisable  to 

»  Lower  Norfolk  County  Records,  Orders  Nov.  21,  1638. 
2  Accomac  County  Records,  vol.  1642-5,  p.  150. 

57o 


Taxation:  Collection  of  Poll  Tax      571 

relieve  them  of  the  burden,  and  to  impose  it  on  special 
commissioners,  one  of  whom  was  to  be  appointed 
for  every  precinct  situated  in  the  Colony.  The  Act 
providing  for  this  change  conferred  upon  these  com- 
missioners the  same  power  of  distraining  in  case  of 
delinquency  as  the  sheriffs  had  possessed;  and  they, 
like  the  sheriffs,  were  also  required  to  render  an  account 
to  the  justices  of  their  respective  counties.1 

Before  the  close  of  1648,  the  year  following  its  adop- 
tion, this  law  was  in  full  operation  throughout  the 
Colony.  The  court  of  Lower  Norfolk,  when  the  Act 
had  been  in  force  only  a  few  months,  issued  an  order 
that  every  collector  should  report  to  his  fellow  collect- 
ors the  quantity  of  tobacco  he  had  received.2  Those 
appointed  in  this  county,  as  well  as  in  the  others,  con- 
sisted of  some  of  the  first  men  belonging  to  the  com- 
munity; in  one  year  certainly  (and,  perhaps,  it  was 
the  general  custom  at  this  time),  the  justices  of  the 
county  court  served  in  this  capacity.  This  occurred 
in  1652,  when  the  several  collectorships  were  filled  by 
Col.  Cornelius  Lloyd,  Major  Thomas  Lambert,  Thomas 
Bridge,  John  Sibsey,  Lemuel  Mason,  and  Francis 
Emperor.3 

The  sheriff  of  each  county  seems  still  to  have,  to  some 
degree,  participated  in  the  collection  of  the  taxes,  and 
not  simply  received  the  tobacco  from  the  hands  of  those 
who  had  performed  that  duty.  In  1 66 1 ,  the  incumbent 
of  this  office  in  Northampton  is  stated  in  the  records 
to  have  visited  Mrs.  Afford' s  home,  and  marked  one 
hogshead  stored  in  her  barn  as  belonging  to  the  county; 
and  subsequently  visiting  Mr.  Littleton's,  there  marked 

»  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  i.,  p.  342;  ibid.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  19. 

2  Lower  Norfolk  County  Records,  vol.  1646-51,  p.  94. 

3  Ibid.,  vol.  1651-56,  p.  32. 


572  Political  Condition 

three  others  in  the  same  manner.1  Some  years  after 
this  incident  occurred,  an  order  of  Accomac  county 
court  directed  every  citizen  residing  on  the  sea  side, 
who  was  liable  to  pay  taxes,  to  bring  to  certain  desig- 
nated places,  in  the  form  of  tobacco,  the  full  amount  of 
his  public  dues.  These  places  were  to  be  chosen  by  the 
sheriff,  who,  in  person  or  by  deputy,  was  required  to  be 
present  when  the  tobacco  arrived.  The  taxpayers 
were  to  be  allowed  an  important  reduction  in  consider- 
ation of  their  carting  it  thither.2 

That  the  duty  of  gathering  in  the  taxes  fell  also  on 
the  sheriffs  in  167 1,  was  shown  by  an  Act  requiring  them 
to  submit  full  accounts  of  their  collections  to  the  county 
courts.3  There  is  some  evidence  that,  in  1670,  it  was 
optional  with  the  county  to  nominate  special  collectors, 
or  impose  the  whole  task  on  the  sheriff;  in  the  course  of 
that  year,  the  collection  of  taxes  in  Middlesex  seems  to 
have  been  made  altogether  by  the  sheriff,  whilst  in 
Lower  Norfolk,  it  seems  to  have  been  made  exclusively 
by  the  several  officers  appointed  for  the  purpose.  One 
of  the  laws  adopted  by  what  was  known  as  Bacon's 
Assembly,  which  convened  in  1676,  empowered  each 
county  court  to  appoint  special  collectors  of  the  public 
dues.4  Although  so  many  of  these  laws  were  repealed 
after  the  suppression  of  the  Insurrection,  nevertheless 
this  Act  remained  in  force  in  some  of  the.  counties, 
a  fact  which  aroused  the  strong  opposition  of  no  less  a 
person  than  Herbert  Jeffreys,  at  that  time  serving  as 
the  Governor  of  the  Colony ;  he  complained  that  some 
of  the  men  appointed  by  him  to  the  office  of  sheriff 

»  Northampton  County  Records,  vol.  1657-64,  folio  p.  126. 

2  Accomac  County  Records,  vol.  1666-70,  p.  91. 

3  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  ii.,  p.  292. 
*  Ibid.,  p.  358. 


Taxation:  Collection  of  Poll  Tax      573 

were  deprived  of  the  right  to  collect  the  taxes,  one  of 
great  pecuniary  importance  to  them,  as  they  were 
entitled  to  ten  per  cent,  of  the  tobacco  delivered  into 
their  hands.  Jeffreys  was  not  content  to  make  simply 
a  general  protest :  he  wrote  letters  pointedly  rebuking 
those  justices  who  insisted  on  maintaining  in  their 
counties  a  method  so  repugnant  to  the  general  custom.1 
At  the  end  of  the  century,  the  general  rule  seems  still 
to  have  been  for  the  sheriff  to  collect  the  taxes,  not  so 
much  because  this  method  was  the  most  thorough  and 
convenient,  but  because  it  afforded  an  increase  of  in- 
come to  that  officer.2  Nevertheless,  a  few  counties 
still  exercised  the  right,  originally  granted  by  the  Act 
of  1676,  to  appoint  a  commissioner  for  each  precinct 
to  gather  in  all  public  dues.  This  seems  to  have  been 
the  custom  in  Lancaster  during  the  last  decades;  and  it 
was  not  without  significance  that  the  commissioners 

1  The  following  is  the  text  of  Governor  Jeffreys's  letter  relating 
to  the  subject: 

"Middle  Plantation 
Ye  3rd  November  1677 
"Gentlemen, 

"I  am  tould  it  hath  been  a  custome  in  Virginia  even  to  this  day 
for  the  Sherriff  to  collect  the  public  dues,  and  that  the  Lawes  of 
this  country,  if  they  do  not  positively  comand,  doe  at  least  toler- 
ate and  allow  it.  Notwithstanding,  I  am  informed  that  some  of 
yr  committee  doe  endeavor  to  take  it  from  Capt.  Whitaker,  who 
was  by  me  appoynted  High  Sheriff  of  Yr  County.  And  there 
having  been  no  such  precedent  in  former  Governors'  times,  I 
cannot  look  upon  it  any  otherwise  than  as  an  affront  to  me  rather 
than  a  designed  prejudice  to  him,  and  as  I  have  not  to  my  know- 
ledge in  any  moment  disobliged  yr  county,  I  desire  you  would 
please  to  lett  the  collection  run  in  its  proper  channell,  which  will 
be  kindly  accepted  by 

1 '  Yr  assured  ffriend  and  servant, 

"Herb.  Jeffreys." 

2  The  authors  of  the  Present  State  of  Virginia,  1697-8,  declared 
in  a  general  way  that  the  "levy  was  collected  by  the  sheriff  from 
the  several  masters  of  families";  see  section  ix. 


574  Political  Condition 

in  this  county  were  all  members  of  the  county  court, 
who  were  thus  seeking  to  add  to  their  incomes  the 
percentage  allowed  for  making  the  collection.1  It  is 
quite  probable  that,  whenever  the  sheriff  did  not  serve 
in  this  capacity,  the  justices  did,  in  order  to  obtain 
this  benefit.  If  indifferent  to  the  personal  gain  which 
might  thus  accrue  to  them,  they  quite  certainly  im- 
posed the  task  on  the  sheriff. 

There  was  one  function  in  connection  with  the  public 
taxes  which  was  generally,  although  not  always,  per- 
formed by  the  sheriff:  it  was  ordinarily  his  duty  to 
deliver  to  each  person  mentioned  in  the  levy  the  sum 
assessed  in  that  person's  favor;  and  he  afterwards  made 
up  an  account  of  his  disbursements  for  submission  to 
the  justices  of  the  county.2 

i  Lancaster  County  Records,  Orders  May  n,  1687. 

2  The  following  entry  in  the  Henrico  County  Records,  levy  for 
Oct.  22,  1685,  was  by  no  means  uncommon:  "Sheriff  to  make 
payment  of  ye  sums  above  specified  to  ye  several  persons  on  yr 
list  named. "  The  Present  State  of  Virginia,  16QJ-8  mentions  that 
the  "sheriff  was  obliged  to  pay  away  the  tobacco  to  the  persons  to 
whom  it  was  due. "  See  section  ix.  When  special  commissioners 
collected  the  public  dues,  they  also  made  the  like  payments.  See 
Lower  Norfolk  County  Records,  vol.  1646-51,  p.  94;  also  Lancaster 
County  Records,  vol.  1652-6,  p.  302. 


CHAPTER  XXXIX 
Taxation:  The  Quit-rent 

DURING  the  Seventeenth  century,  only  two  kinds 
of  direct  taxes  were  levied  for  any  great  length 
of  time :  first,  the  poll  tax,  upon  the  character- 
istics of  which  I  have  already  dwelt ;  and  secondly,  the 
quit -rent,  a  land  tax  payable  to  the  King.  The  quit-rent 
was  perhaps  originally  designed  to  show  the  supremacy 
of  the  royal  title  to  the  whole  country,  not  as  against 
aliens,  but  as  against  the  inhabitants  themselves.  By 
the  terms  of  the  early  charters,  every  estate  in  Virginia, 
small  or  great,  owned  by  individuals,  was  to  be  held  in 
"  free  and  common  soccage  " ;  the  only  reservation  was 
that  one  fifth  of  any  metals  discovered  in  its  soil  was  to 
be  the  property  of  the  sovereign.  As  soon  as  the 
Crown,  in  1624,  resumed  administrative  control  of  the 
Colony,  the  quit-rent  was  imposed,  a  rent  fixed  at  one 
shilling  for  every  fifty  acres  taken  up  under  patent, 
and  seated  to  the  extent  required  by  law.  As  the  area 
of  cultivated  plantations  spread  out,  the  sum  annually 
accruing  from  this  tax  steadily  increased;  in  1631, 
the  General  Assembly  asserted  that  the  quit-rents,  if 
faithfully  collected,  would  be  equal  in  value  to  at  least 
two  thousand  pounds  sterling;  as  it  was,  even  fifteen 
years  later  the  amount  actually  gathered  in  did  not 
exceed  five  hundred  pounds  sterling.     At  this  time,  the 

575 


576  Political  Condition 

quit-rents  were  used  for  the  payment  of  the  Treasurer's 
salary. J 

The  King,  in  167 1,  bestowed  the  quit-rents  on  Colonel 
Henry  Norwood,  as  some  return  for  his  fidelity  to  the 
royal  cause  in  its  darkest  hours;  and  in  1673,  on  Arling- 
ton and  Culpeper.  The  gift  in  either  case  carried  with 
it  all  sums  in  arrears.  As  we  have  seen,  the  grant  to  the 
two  noblemen  was,  in  the  end,  revoked  in  consequence 
of  the  outcry  raised  by  the  Virginians.  About  1679, 
Deputy-Governor  Chichely  submitted,  through  the 
Privy  Council,  a  petition  to  the  throne  for  the  release 
of  all  quit-rents  then  unpaid,  on  the  ground  that  they 
amounted  now  to  so  great  a  figure  that,  if  a  serious 
effort  were  made  to  collect  them,  it  would  fall  with 
intolerable  heaviness  on  every  citizen,  but  especially 
on  the  members  of  the  poorer  classes.2  That  a  large 
sum  due  on  this  account  was  still  outstanding  when 
Culpeper  arrived  in  the  Colony  was  shown  by  his  com- 
mand that  the  quit-rents  should  be  collected  during  that 
year  with  the  utmost  strictness  in  order  to  throw  a 
full  light  on  the  extent  of  the  delinquency  during 
previous  years;  but  the  result  was  disappointing,  as 
the  value  of  tobacco  had  now  sunk  to  a  low  point,  and 
the  charges  for  collecting  the  rents  were  very  onerous.3 

That  such  a  large  amount  of  quit-rents  was  always 
in  arrear  was  chiefly  due  to  the  fact  that  such  a  wide 
surface  of  land  belonging  to  tracts  taken  up  under 
patent,  remained  uncultivated.  Of  the  five  million 
acres  embraced  in  estates  held  by  private  owners,  it 
was  estimated  by  Edward  Randolph,  towards  the  end 

»  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  i.,  p.  306. 

2  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1676-81,  p.  361;  for  gift  to  Norwood, 
see  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  ii.,  p.  517. 

•  British  Colonial  Papers,  vol.  xlvii.,  No.  105. 


Taxation:  The  Quit-rent  577 

of  the  century,  that  only  forty  thousand  had  been  more 
or  less  rescued  from  their  original  primaeval  condition. 
There  were  in  the  possession  of  members  of  the  Council, 
in  1696,  not  less  than  one  hundred  thousand  acres  which 
had  never  paid  one  pound  of  tobacco  as  quit-rent.  It 
was  not  strange  that  the  planters  should  think  that  all 
unimproved  soil  should  be  relieved  of  this  tax;  and  in 
the  long  run,  they  seem  to  have  been  successful  in 
avoiding  the  full  settlement  of  this  branch  of  the 
public  dues;  it  was  stated  in  1696  that  no  land  in  the 
Colony  had  ever  been  forfeited  for  the  owner's  failure 
to  pay  the  quit-rents,  although  much  ground  had  lapsed 
to  the  public  from  the  neglect  of  the  patentees  to  seat 
it  according  to  the  requirements  of  law. *  In  King  and 
Queen  county  alone,  during  this  year,  it  was  supposed 
that  there  were  at  least  thirty-eight  thousand  acres 
taken  up  from  which  no  quit-rent  had  ever  been  re- 
ceived. Here,  as  elsewhere,  no  effort  could  be  made 
by  the  officers  of  the  Colony  to  collect  the  arrears  be- 
cause there  was  no  personal  property  on  the  land  to 
be  distrained  on,  and  the  owners  themselves  resided 
in  other  counties.2 

It  would  seem  that  the  quit-rents  were,  from  an 
early  date,  annually  farmed  out  to  members  of  the 
Council,  including  the  Governor  himself.  In  1665, 
Berkeley  took  over  those  of  James  City  and  Surry 
counties;  Colonel  Miles  Cary,  those  of  Warwick  and 
Elizabeth  City;  Colonel  Thomas  Stegge  and  Henry 
Randolph,  those  of  Charles  City  and  Henrico ;  General 

1  B.  T.  Va.,  1696,  vol.  vi.,  p.  35. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  23.  Hartwell,  in  1697,  stated,  in  answer  to  the  inquiries 
of  the  English  Commissioners,  that  some  of  the  planters  of  Virginia 
who  owned  60,000  acres  so  overawed  the  sheriffs  that  the  latter 
accepted  these  "men's  accounts  as  they  themselves  would  have  it"; 
B.  T.  Va.,  1697,  v°l-  TO.,  p.  141. 

vol.  11. — 37 


578  Political  Condition 

Bennett,  those  of  Nansemond  and  Lower  Norfolk; 
Nathaniel  Bacon,  Sr.,  those  of  York,  the  south  side  of 
New  Kent,  and  Isle  of  Wight;  Peter  Jennings  and 
Matthew  Kemp,  those  of  Lancaster  and  Gloucester,  and 
the  north  side  of  New  Kent;  Colonel  Scarborough,  those 
of  Accomac  and  Northampton;  and  John  Lee,  those  of 
Northumberland.1  It  will  be  perceived,  from  this  list, 
that  it  was  customary  for  the  quit-rents  of  each  small 
group  of  counties  to  be  farmed  out  to  the  Councillor 
whose  residence  was  situated  in  one  of  the  groups.  A 
change  occurred  in  1699,  for,  in  the  course  of  that  year, 
the  Council  authorized  William  Byrd,  the  Auditor  of 
Virginia,  to  sell  the  quit-rents  of  each  county  to  anyone 
who  would  purchase  them  at  the  price  of  one  penny  a 
pound  of  tobacco,  the  commodity  in  which  they  were 
paid ;  and  who  also  would  remunerate  the  sheriff  at  the 
usual  rate  for  collecting  them.2  Unless  the  quit-rents 
were  farmed  out,  or  sold  outright,  the  tobacco  used 
for  their  payment  was  delivered  by  the  sheriff  directly 
to  the  Auditor,  who  was  empowered  to  retain  seven 
and  a  half  per  cent,  of  his  receipts  as  compensation 
for  storing  and  selling  the  commodity.  He  afterwards 
transmitted  a  full  account  of  these  receipts  to  the 
Auditor-General  of  the  Colonies  residing  in  England.3 
The  following  table  shows  the  value  of  the  quit-rents 
during  a  short  series  of  years.4 

*  See  Byrd  Letter  Book,  fly  leaf,  Va.  Hist.  Society  MSS.  Coll.  ; 
see  also  Va.  Maga.  of  Hist,  and  Biog.,  vol.  iii.,  p.  42. 

2  Minutes  of  Council,  Oct.  19,  1699,  B.  T.  Va.,  1699. 

3  B.  T.  Va.,  1697,  vol.  vi.,  p.  141.  The  sheriff  in  making  his 
collections  was  guided  by  old  rent  rolls  and  his  personal  knowledge 
of  new  patents;  see  Present  State  of  Virginia,  i6q?-8,  section 
ix. 

*  These  figures  are  taken  from  entries  on  a  fly  leaf  of  Colonel 
William  Byrd's  Letter  Book,  Va.  Hist.  Soc.  MSS.  Coll. 


Taxation :  The  Quit-rent 


579 


Table  i.     Value  of  Quit-rents  Collected  1663-65 


James  City  and  Surry 

Warwick  &  Elizabeth  City 

Henrico  &  Charles  City 

Nansemond 

Lower  Norfolk 

York,  Isle  of  Wight,  So.  Side  New 

Kent 

Lancaster,  Gloucester,   No.    Side 

New  Kent 

Westmoreland  &  Stafford 

Accomac  &  Northampton 

Northumberland 

Rappahannock 

Totals 


Years 


1663-5 
1663-5 
1663-5 
1663-5 
1663-5 

1663-5 

1663-5 
1663-5 
1663-5 
1663-5 
1664-5 

1663-5 


Lbs.  of 
Tobacco 


26,107 

I4,3©5 
22,974 

I9.7I4 
20,462! 

33,438 

38,673 
12,880 

32,487 
9,831 


Value  in 
Money 


98 
167 


J93 

89 

162 

49 
38 


1.0  y 

s.  d. 

II  o 

II  2 


I30 

71 
114       17      4 


II      4 

5    2 


7 
iS 


3 
iS 


230,871    £n66      14     7 


A° 


Exclusive  of  Rappahannock  county,  about  two  hun- 
dred and  thirty-one  thousand  pounds  of  tobacco  were, 
during  this  short  interval,  collected  in  the  form  of 
quit-rents ;  and  this  quantity  of  that  commodity  was 
valued  at  eleven  hundred  and  sixty-six  pounds  sterling 
and  fourteen  shillings. 

Towards  the  end  of  the  century,  the  income  from  the 
quit-rents,  on  the  average,  ranged  annually  from  one 
thousand  to  fifteen  hundred  pounds  sterling. 2  Between 
1684  and  1690,  an  interval  of  six  years,  the  revenue 
derived  from  this;  source  was  estimated  at  £4375 
13s.  9d.;  but  of  this  large  sum,  only  £1985  14s.  iod. 
remained  in  the  Colony's  treasury  in  1690,  owing  to  the 
heavy  outlay  in  the  different  branches  of  the  public 

»  The  valuation  covered  only  one  half  of  this  total. 

2  B.  T.  Va.,  1692,  No.  116;  Beverley's  History  of  Virginia,  p.  200 
et  seq.  Henry  Hartwell,  in  1697,  estimated  the  annual  income  from 
the  quit-rents  at  £800;  see  B.  T.  Va.,  1697,  vol.  vi.,  p.  147. 


580  Political  Condition 

service.  An  additional  charge  imposed  on  the  income 
from  the  quit-rents  at  this  time  was  the  annual  payment 
of  the  sum  of  three  hundred  pounds  sterling  to  the 
Lieut. -Governor.1  Andros  was,  in  1691-2,  instructed 
not  to  make  any  disbursements  of  these  rents  by  his 
warrant  without  being  thoroughly  informed  as  to  the 
surplus  in  hand,  or  as  to  the  amount  still  due  on  this 
account.2  Nor  was  the  Governor  at  liberty  to  dispose 
of  any  part  of  this  surplus  for  extraordinary  objects 
without  first  finding  out  the  pleasure  of  the  King;  for 
instance,  in  1692,  he  had  to  request  the  royal  sanction 
to  the  expenditure  of  one  thousand  pounds  sterling 
belonging  to  this  fund  in  meeting  the  cost  of  fortifying 
Virginia  against  a  possible  French  and  Indian  attack, 
or  of  sending  assistance  to  the  neighboring  Colonies  in 
case  of  a  like  invasion.3  This  use  of  the  quit-rents  was 
thought  to  be  justified  by  the  words  inserted,  in  1684, 
in  the  repeal  of  the  grant  to  Culpeper  and  Arlington : 
it  was  there  expressly  stated  that  these  rents  should  be 
only  employed  for  the  "  better  support "  of  the  Govern- 
ment of  the  Colony4;  and  in  aiding  the  adjacent  com- 
munities in  a  military  emergency,  it  was  considered  that 
this  was  an  indirect  means  of  preventing  an  incursion 
into  Virginia  in  the  future. 

■  B.  T.  Va.,  1692,  No.  117. 

2  B.  T.  Va.,  Entry  Book,  vol.  xxxvi.,  p.  137. 

3  B.  T.  Va.,  1692,  No.  96. 

*  See  Repeal  of  the  Culpeper  Grant;  also  Colonial  Entry  Book, 
vol.  cvi.,  p.  274.  Culpeper  retained  his  right  to  the  quit-rents  of 
the  Northern  Neck,  which  descended  to  the  Fairfaxes  by  inter- 
marriage with  the  Culpeper  family. 


CHAPTER  XL 
Taxation :   Indirect  Taxes 

1HAVE  mentioned  incidentally  the  several  varieties 
of  indirect  taxes  which  were  imposed  in  Virginia 
during  this  early  period.  One  of  the  most  impor- 
tant of  these  was  the  duty  on  liquors.  This  tax  does 
not  seem  to  have  been  created  as  a  permanency  until 
rather  late  in  the  course  of  the  century.  Berkeley 
declared,  in  167 1,  that  no  import  duties  were  then  in 
operation  in  Virginia1 ;  and  apparently  it  was  not  until 
the  example  was  set  by  the  English  Parliament  that  all 
liquors  brought  into  the  Colony  were,  systematically, 
made  liable  to  such  a  charge.  About  1683,  the  Com- 
missioners of  Trade  and  Plantations,  recommending 
the  inauguration  of  this  tax  as  a  means  of  raising  money 
upon  urgent  occasions,  asserted  that  it  would  be  found 
to  be  more  equal  and  acceptable  than  the  prevailing 
poll  tax.  The  suggestion  bore  quick  fruit,  for,  in  the 
following  year,  the  General  Assembly  laid  a  duty  of 
three  pence  a  gallon  on  all  the  wine,  brandy,  and  rum 
imported  into  the  Colony;  and  permission  was  granted 
to  pay  this  duty  in  kind.2     In  creating  the  impost,  this 

»  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  ii.,  p.  516.  A  tax  on  rum  was  imposed 
about  1663,  but  the  law,  after  being  in  force  about  a  year,  was 
repealed;  see  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  ii.,  p.  128. 

2  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1680-95,  p.  208;  Hening's  Statutes,  vol. 
iii.,  p.  23. 

58i 


582  Political  Condition 

body  stated  that  its  object  was  to  lessen  the  burden  of 
the  poll  tax;  and  also  to  accumulate  a  fund  to  be 
expended  in  building  a  State-House  to  accommodate 
the  sittings  of  the  General  Court  and  of  the  General 
Assembly  also.  The  master  of  every  ship  was  required, 
before  he  broke  bulk,  to  report  the  quantity  of  liquors 
he  had  on  board ;  and  should  he  disregard  this  regulation , 
he  was  to  be  liable  to  the  forfeiture  of  his  vessel,  her 
guns,  tackle,  and  furniture;  but  an  exception  was  made 
in  favor  of  those  persons  whose  ships  had  been  con- 
structed entirely  in  Virginia.  These  alone  were  to  be 
exempted  from  the  operation  of  the  tax. 1 

The  import  duty  on  liquors  was  renewed  in  1691  for 
the  exclusive  purpose  of  diminishing  the  burden  of  the 
poll  tax.  It  was  now  again  provided  that  no  tax  was 
to  be  laid  on  liquors  brought  in  in  a  vessel  built  in  Vir- 
ginia; and  if  the  vessel  had  been  constructed  elsewhere, 
but  was  owned  by  citizens  of  the  Colony,  the  duty  per 
gallon  was  not  to  exceed  two  pennies.2  This  law  was 
re-enacted  in  1695  and  1699.  During  this  time  also, 
a  tax  of  one  penny  a  gallon  seems  to  have  been  placed 
on  beer  and  cider,  which  apparently  were  not  included 
in  the  original  list.  It  was  estimated  that  from  this 
general  source  of  revenue  not  less  than  six  hundred 
pounds  sterling  were  annually  obtained.3 

In  the  account  given  of  the  administration  of  the 
Colony's  military  affairs,  reference  was  made  to  the 
tax  in  the  form  of  shot  and  powder  paid  by  every  in- 
coming ship  for  the  purpose  of  keeping  the  fort  at  Point 
Comfort  supplied  with  ammunition.  At  the  close  of 
the  century,  every  vessel  reaching  port  in  Virginia  was 

1  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  iii.,  p.  23. 

2  Ibid.,  pp.  88,  132. 

3  Beverley's  History  of  Virginia,  p.  200. 


Taxation :  Indirect  Taxes  583 

required  to  pay  a  tonnage  duty  of  fifteen  pennies.1 
A  similar  tax,  amounting,  in  1633^0  sixty-three  pounds 
of  tobacco  per  poll,  was  imposed  on  every  person 
planting  tobacco  during  the  first  year  following  his 
arrival2 ;  but  this  regulation  was  soon  repealed,  no  doubt 
because  it  was  found  to  discourage  new  settlers,  who 
were  absolutely  dependent  upon  the  production  of  that 
commodity  for  a  livelihood.  In  1679-80,  a  duty  of 
six  pennies  had  to  be  paid  by  the  owner  of  every  servant 
or  slave  imported.3  Many  years  later,  when  it  became 
necessary  to  raise  a  fund  for  rebuilding  the  capitol, 
which  had  been  destroyed  by  fire,  a  duty  of  twenty 
shillings  was  laid  on  every  slave  brought  in;  and  of 
fifteen  on  every  white  servant,  provided  that  he  or  she 
had  not  come  from  England.  The  operation  of  this  tax 
was  designed  to  be  only  temporary,  as  it  was  in  principle 
repugnant  to  the  public  welfare,  in  consequence  of  the 
fact  that  the  Colony  was  so  dependent  for  its  culti- 
vation upon  these  two  classes  of  agricultural  laborers. 
The  amount  of  income  derived  from  this  source  fluctu- 
ated because  the  supply  of  new  servants  and  slaves 
reaching  Virginia  from  year  to  year  was  very  irregular 
and  unequal.4 

A  tax  was,  in  1691,  laid  on  all  skins  and  furs,  as  well 
as  on  all  wool  and  iron,  exported  from  Virginia;  the 

1  Present  State  of  Virginia,  1697-8,  section  ix. 

2  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  i.,  p.  222. 

3  Acts  of  Assembly,  1679-80,  Colonial  Entry  Book;  Hening's 
Statutes,  vol.  ii.,  p.  468.  In  his  Answers  to  the  English  Commis- 
sioner's Inquiries  in  1671,  Berkeley  stated  that  a  considerable 
income  was,  at  that  time,  derived  from  the  import  tax  on  slaves. 
It  would  appear  from  this  that  a  similar  law  had  been  adopted  at 
an  earlier  date  than  1679;  if  so,  the  Act  has  not,  so  far  as  we  are 
aware,  been  preserved. 

*  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  iii.,  p.  192;  Beverley's  History  of  Vir- 
ginia, p.  200. 


584  Political  Condition 

principal  object  of  which  regulation  was  to  procure  funds 
for  the  support  of  the  projected  College.  It  had,  how- 
ever, been  the  Colony's  settled  policy  for  some  time, 
to  prohibit  the  exportation  of  such  articles  as  these 
because  it  was  the  only  way  of  keeping  in  the  people's 
hands  sufficient  materials  for  the  manufacture  of  shoes, 
clothing,  and  iron  work  of  different  sorts.  The  rate 
adopted  for  skins  varied  with  the  kind  and  condition ; 
for  instance,  for  raw  hides,  it  was  one  shilling,  and  for 
dressed,  two;  and  for  buck  skin  and  doe  skin,  eight  and 
five  pence  respectively.  The  duty  imposed  on  each 
pound  of  wool  exported  was  sixpence,  and  on  each 
pound  of  iron,  one  penny.1  Beverley  estimated  the 
amount  of  income  derived  from  these  sources  annually 
at  one  hundred  pounds  sterling.2 

The  most  profitable  of  all  the  indirect  taxes  was  the 
duty  of  two  shillings  imposed  on  every  hogshead  ex- 
ported from  the  Colony.  The  Act  creating  this  tax 
was  first  passed  in  1657;  and  there  were  three  anticipa- 
tions leading  to  its  adoption : — first,  that  it  would  afford 
a  certain  and  steady  income  for  the  support  of  the  local 
government ;  secondly,  that  it  would  assure  the  intro- 
duction of  coin  into  Virginia,  since  the  duty  would  be 
paid  by  shipmasters  just  arrived  from  England,  who 
were  confidently  expected  to  bring  over,  for  that 
purpose,  a  quantity  of  gold  and  silver;  and  thirdly,  that 
it  would  encourage  a  diversification  of  crops  as  a  means 
of  lessening  the  tax.3 

It   shows   how  extraordinary   was   the   change   of 

»  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  iii.,  p.  63. 

2  See  Beverley's  History  of  Virginia,  p.  200  et  seq. 

3  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  i.,  p.  410.  When  tobacco  was  shipped 
in  a  loose  form,  there  was  a  tax  of  two  shillings  imposed  on  every 
five  hundred  pounds;  see  Act  of  1677,  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  ii., 
P-  4i3- 


Taxation :  Indirect  Taxes  585 

opinion  reflected  in  this  memorable  Act  that,  only  a 
few  years  before,  a  law  had  been  adopted  by  the  General 
Assembly,  in  which  it  was  declared  that  it  would  be 
very  unwise  to  lay  any  duty,  however  small,  on  exported 
tobacco1;  a  statement  that  was  entirely  sound  from 
an  economic  point  of  view.  In  March,  1657-8,  it  was 
decided  to  reduce  the  new  tax  to  one  shilling  a  hogs- 
head; and  the  proceeds  were  to  be  used  in  paying  the 
salary  of  the  Governor,  whose  remuneration  could  no 
longer  be  derived  from  the  English  customs  on  tobacco; 
this  arrangement,  however,  was  subject  to  the  reserva- 
tion that  only  during  the  time  this  official  was  elected 
by  the  House  of  Burgesses,  he  was  to  have  any  claim 
on  this  new  source  of  income.2 

Two  years  afterwards,  the  export  duty  on  tobacco 
was  increased  to  ten  shillings  in  the  case  of  every 
hogshead  consigned  to  any  of  the  English  dominions 
outside  of  Europe.  This  new  regulation  was  really  di- 
rected against  the  merchant  marine  of  the  Dutch,  from 
whom  the  English  were  now  striving  to  wrest  the  com- 
mercial supremacy  of  the  age.3  About  166 1-2,  the 
original  Act  imposing  two  shillings  on  each  hogshead 
exported  was  renewed.  The  tax  of  ten  shillings, 
when  the  hogshead  was  not  to  be  conveyed  to  the 
English  possessions  in  Europe,  was  still,  as  a  rule,  en- 
forced.4 Should,  however,  the  vessel  containing  a 
cargo  destined  for  some  one  of  the  other  Colonies  belong 

»  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  i.,  p.  413. 

2  Va.  Maga.  of  Hist,  and  Biog.,  vol.  viii.,  p.  392. 

3  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  i.,  p.  536.  These  ten  shillings  may  have 
been  in  addition  to  the  ordinary  tax  and  not  simply  inclusive  of  it. 
This  law  was  repealed  in  1665,  on  the  ground  that  its  chief  effect 
was  to  increase  the  exportation  of  tobacco  from  Maryland;  see 
Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  ii.,  p.  218. 

*  Ibid.  pp.  130,  134. 


586  Political  Condition 

entirely  to  citizens  of  Virginia,  it  was  to  be  exempted 
from  the  scope  of  this  onerous  duty1;  and  the  same 
privilege  was  granted  when  a  ship,  similarly  owned,  was 
about  to  set  out  for  English  ports.  The  exemption 
from  the  tax  of  two  shillings  did  not  apply  when  the 
vessel  had  been  constructed  in  Virginia,  but  belonged  to 
Englishmen.2 

It  was  the  design  of  those  who  framed  the  Act  impos- 
ing the  tax  of  two  shillings  that  the  burden  thus  created 
should  fall  on  the  owner  of  the  exporting  vessel,  generally 
a  merchant  residing  in  England,  and  that  the  amount 
due  should  not  be  really  handed  over  until  the  tobacco 
had  reached  an  English  port;  and  this  seemed  to  be 
assured  by  requiring  simply  a  bond  of  the  shipmaster 
to  pay  when  passing  his  cargo  through  the  English 
custom-house.3  The  Council  of  Foreign  Plantations, 
however,  very  soon  expressed  their  disapproval  of  this 
plan;  in  an  address  to  the  King,  in  the  course  of  1662, 
they  sought  permission  to  enforce  the  payment  of  the 
tax  in  Virginia,  either  in  actual  coin  or  in  goods  of  the 
necessary  value;  and  they  also  requested  authority  to 
confiscate  all  tobacco  transported  over  sea  without  the 
master  being  able  to  show  in  England  a  cocquet  proving 
that  the  tax  had  been  met  before  his  departure  from 

*  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  ii.,  p.  134. 

2  It  was  so  decided  in  1686;  see  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1680-95, 
p.  227. 

3  Petition  of  Owners  of  Ships  trading  with  Virginia  in  1662,  con- 
tains the  following:  "Whereas  the  Governor  and  planters  there  doe 
of  themselves,  without  any  power  given  them  by  his  Majesty, 
compell  ye  petitioners,  upon  the  arrival  of  any  ship  there,  and 
before  they  can  break  bulk  to  unload  any  goods,  for  to  enter  into 
bond  of  ^2000,  with  sureties  to  pay  in  London  to  whom  they  shall 
appoint,  2  shillings  sterling  money  for  every  hogshead  of  tobacco 
they  shall  laid  aboard  their  said  ship";  British  Colonial  Papers, 
vol.  xvi.,  No.  93. 


Taxation:  Indirect  Taxes  587 

Virginia.     It  seems  to  have  been  allowable,  however, 
to  pay  the  duty  with  bills  of  exchange  on  London.1 

Fitzhugh  estimated  that,  in  one  year  alone,  the 
revenues  derived  from  the  tax  of  two  shillings  per  hogs- 
head amounted,  clear  of  all  expenses,  to  nearly  four 
thousand  pounds  sterling.  Of  this  sum,  about  twelve 
hundred  pounds  was  paid  to  the  Governor  in  discharge 
of  his  salary;  one  hundred  to  the  Auditor- General  of 
the  Colonies  residing  in  England;  three  hundred  to  the 
Auditor  in  Virginia;  and  thirty  or  forty  to  each  member 
of  the  Council.  The  remainder  was  remitted  to  the 
royal  treasury  in  London.2  Sometimes,  this  surplus 
was,  with  the  King's  consent,  spent  in  carrying  out 
certain  public  purposes  in  America;  for  instance,  in 
1693,  one  hundred  pounds  were  dispatched  to  New 
York  to  assist  that  government  in  its  preparations  to 
repel  an  expected  invasion  by  the  French  and  Indians. 
And  in  some  years,  considerable  sums,  drawn  from  the 
same  fund,  were,  no  doubt,  devoted  to  repairing  the  for- 
tifications situated  in  the  Colony.3  The  income  from 
this  source  was  in  the  end  somewhat  diminished  by  the 
Act  providing  for  an  increase  in  the  size  of  the  hogshead.4 

i  Proceedings  of  Council  of  Foreign  Plantations,  Aug.  25,  1662, 
British  Colonial  Papers,  vol.  xiv.  A  petition  of  Bristol  merchants 
trading  in  Virginia  stated  that,  in  1665,  they  had  "paid  a  tax  of 
2  shillings,  3  pence  per  hogshead  imposed  by  the  Governor  of  Vir- 
ginia, for  which  they  had  given  bills  of  exchange  amounting  to 
near  £400";  British  Colonial  Papers,  vol.  xix.,  No.  12.  In  1670, 
express  permission  was  granted  to  pay  in  this  form;  see  Hening's 
Statutes,  vol.  ii.,  p.  283. 

2  Letters  of  William  Fitzhugh,  April  5,  1687.  In  1671,  the 
number  of  hogsheads  exported  were  estimated  by  Berkeley  at 
fifteen  thousand,  which,  during  that  year,  assured  from  this  tax 
a  revenue  of  about  ^3000. 

3  Letter  of  Andros,  January  5,  1693,  B.  T.  Va.,  Entry  Book, 
vol.  xxxvi.,  p.  253. 

*  See  Present  State  of  Virginia,  i6q?-8,  section  ix. 


588  Political  Condition 

In  addition  to  the  tax  of  two  shillings,  a  tax  of  one 
penny  a  pound  was  placed  on  every  hogshead  exported 
from  Virginia  to  any  one  of  the  English  Colonies. 
This  tax,  which  seems  to  have  been  really  created  by 
Act  of  Parliament,  was  intended  as  a  substitute  for  the 
duty  of  ten  shillings  adopted  about  1660  by  the  General 
Assembly  of  Virginia.  It  was  in  force  in  1674;  and  in 
the  course  of  that  year,  Giles  Brent  was  nominated  to 
the  office  of  collector  of  the  proceeds  by  the  English 
Commissioners  of  Customs. *  The  income  derived  from 
it  in  Virginia  was  never  very  considerable,  although  it 
was  estimated  that  not  less  than  forty  shillings,  by  the 
operation  of  this  duty  alone,  had  to  be  paid  on  every 
hogshead  shipped  to  New  England,  or  any  other  of  the 
English  Colonies  in  America .  The  deductions  for  special 
charges  against  the  amount  raised  were  particularly 
heavy: — for  instance,  the  collector's  fee  was  fixed  at 
fifty  per  cent,  and  the  comptroller's,  who  revised  the 
audits,  at  twenty-five  per  cent,  of  the  sums  paid  in. 
The  whole  fund  obtained  annually  from  this  source  was 
not  supposed  to  exceed  one  hundred  pounds  sterling, 
so  small  was  the  number  of  hogsheads  conveyed  from 
Virginia  to  ports  outside  of  England.2  The  collections 
in  Maryland  added  one  hundred  pounds  to  this  amount.3 

Near  the  close  of  the  century,  it  was  calculated  that 
the  government  of  the  Colony,  independently  of  the 

*  Randojph  MS.,  vol.  iii.,  p.  331.  In  1699,  there  seems  to  have 
been  still  a  separate  collector  for  the  one  penny  duty ;  see  Memorial 
of  Richard  Lee,  et  al.,  B.  T.  Va.,  vol.  vii.,  p.  150. 

2  Present  State  of  Virginia,  i6gy-8,  section  ix.  The  fourth 
quarter  of  the  fund  was  supposed  to  be  payable  to  the  King,  but 
from  year  to  year,  it  was  practically  eaten  up  by  the  charges  for 
the  boats,  men,  and  horses  needed  in  collecting  it;  see  Memorial 
about  the  College,  Dec.  n,  1691,  B.  T.  Va.,  1691,  No.  71. 

3  Beverley's  History  of  Virginia,  p.  200  et  seq. 


Taxation :  Indirect  Taxes  589 

poll  tax,  derived  annually  from  all  sources  for  its  sup- 
port about  three  thousand  pounds  sterling.1  This 
income,  to  recapitulate,  was  obtained  from  the  follow- 
ing imposts : — the  tax  of  two  shillings  on  each  hogshead 
of  tobacco  exported ;  the  tonnage  tax  of  fifteen  pennies 
paid  by  every  ship  arriving  in  Virginia;  the  head  tax 
of  six  pennies  paid  by  or  for  every  passenger,  bond  or 
free,  entering  the  Colony  with  the  determination  to 
remain ;  all  fines  and  forfeitures  arising  under  the  opera- 
tion of  Acts  of  Assembly;  all  waifs  and  estrays;  all 
compositions  for  escheated  plantations  or  chattels;  and 
finally,  the  proceeds  from  the  sale  of  public  lands 
when  it  became  permissible  to  purchase  them  with 
coin  or  tobacco. 

•  Beverley's  History  of  Virginia,  p.  200  et  seq.  This  was  also  the 
estimate  given  by  the  authors  of  the  Present  State  of  Virginia,  1697- 
8.  In  1673,  Berkeley  stated  that  the  revenue  of  the  Colony  ap- 
approximated  £2200;  see  British  Colonial  Papers,  vol.  xxx.,  No. 
51,  I.     See  also  British  Colonial  Papers,  vol.  xxxvii.,  Doct.  19. 


CHAPTER  XLI 
Taxation :   Collectors  and  Naval  Officers 

IN  1624,  the  annual  revenue  derived  by  the  royal 
treasury  from  the  customs  paid  on  the  tobacco 
imported  into  England  from  the  Colony  closely 
approximated  ninety-one  thousand  pounds  sterling.1 
Fifty  years  later,  the  income  accruing  from  the  same 
source  amounted  to  one  hundred  thousand  pounds 
yearly,2  a  sum  which,  in  purchasing  power,  was  equal  to 
at  least  two  millions  of  dollars  in  our  modern  currency. 
These  figures  throw  a  vivid  light  on  the  value  of  the 
tobacco  from  Virginia  passing  through  the  English  cus- 
tom-houses in  the  course  of  every  twelve  months ;  and 
a  light  not  less  vivid  on  the  mere  quantity  shipped  from 
the  wharves  of  the  plantations.  The  first  suggestion 
that  an  export  duty  should  be  placed  on  all  this  com- 
modity leaving  Virginia, — a  measure  which  would  make 

1  British  Colonial  Papers,  vol.  iii.,  No.  23.  The  actual  figures 
were  £90,350. 

2  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1675-81,  p.  34.  A  large  portion  of  this 
revenue  for  1674  was  derived  from  the  customs  on  the  tobacco  im- 
ported from  Maryland, — not  the  case,  of  course,  in  1624,  as  the 
latter  province  had  not  then  been  founded.  In  1624,  tobacco  com- 
manded in  the  English  market  a  far  higher  price  than  in  1674,  and 
the  duty  was,  no  doubt,  proportionately  much  higher  also.  This 
explains  the  practical  equality  between  the  customs  income  from 
this  source  in  1624  and  1674,  although  the  importation  of  tobacco 
into  England  was  far  greater  in  bulk  in  the  latter  year  than  in  the 
former,  owing  to  the  enormous  increase  in  the  production. 

S9o 


Taxation:  Collectors  591 

the  appointment  of  new  revenue  officers  necessary, — 
seems  to  have  come  from  Richard  Kemp;  in  a  letter 
dated  1636,  he  declared  that,  if  a  custom-house  were 
established  in  the  Colony  for  this  purpose,  it  would 
quicken  the  Colony's  trade,  and  greatly  promote  ship- 
building among  the  inhabitants.  Kemp's  proposal 
does  not  appear  to  have  involved  the  idea  of  placing 
on  the  exported  tobacco  a  tax  additional  to  the  English 
customs,  but  rather  that  the  English  customs  should 
be  collected  in  Virginia  before  the  tobacco  was  taken 
away.  The  advantages  to  be  gained  by  this  were 
represented  by  him  to  be,  first,  the  prevention  of  all 
kinds  of  embezzlement,  estimated  by  him  to  amount 
annually  to  one  third  of  the  whole  quantity  dispatched ; 
secondly,  the  avoidance  of  all  losses  which  might 
result  from  shipwreck,  since  the  owner  of  the  tobacco 
would,  under  the  plan  suggested,  have  to  pay  the  duties 
before  he  would  be  permitted  to  carry  his  cargo  off. 
Kemp  asserted  that  convenient  custom-houses  could  be 
secured  simply  by  reviving  an  old  law  requiring  the 
erection  of  three  storehouses  at  different  points  in  the 
Colony  for  the  accommodation  of  the  planters'  crops 
before  being  carried  on  board  ship  for  transportation 
to  England.1 

Kemp's  proposal  was  in  the  main  rejected  by  the 
English  authorities  as  soon  as  it  was  submitted  to  them, 
for,  not  incorrectly,  they  deemed  it  more  prudent  that 
the  customs  on  tobacco  should  be  collected  after  its 
arrival  in  England  rather  than  before  its  departure  from 
Virginia.  They  were ,  however,  strongly  disposed  to  take 
the  proposal  into  favorable  consideration  so  far  as  it  in- 
volved the  idea  of  appointing  an  inspector  for  the  whole 
of  this  commodity  exported  from  the  Colony.    The 

«  British  Colonial  Papers,  vol.  ix.,  No.  9. 


592  Political  Condition 

General  Assembly  appears  to  have  already  impowered 
the  Governor  and  Council  to  nominate  such  an  officer, 
to  be  known  as  Register,  and  who  was  to  receive  as  his 
remuneration  a  fee  of  twopence  for  every  hogshead 
shipped  from  the  Colony's  wharves;  these  fees  were  to 
be  paid  him  by  the  masters  of  vessels  when,  just  before 
sailing,  they  brought  their  invoices  to  him  for  exam- 
ination. The  Register  proved  to  be  an  officer  of 
small  importance;  the  first  person  to  fill  the  position 
under  the  English  Government's  appointment  was 
Jerome  Hawley,  the  Treasurer  of  Virginia;  and  he  was 
succeeded  by  Richard  Kemp.1  Apparently,  the  chief 
duty  of  these  men  during  their  incumbency  was  to,  in- 
form the  English  Commissioners  of  Customs  of  the  num- 
ber of  hogsheads  exported  from  Virginia  in  any  one 
year,  so  as  to  enable  them  to  discover  the  more  certainly 
the  extent  to  which  tobacco  was  smuggled  into  the 
ports  of  England;  and  also  the  extent  to  which  it  was 
shipped  to  foreign  countries  directly  after  leaving  the 
Colony. 

As  soon  as  the  export  duty  of  two  shillings  a  hogs- 
head was  created,  it  became  necessary  to  appoint  a 
sufficient  number  of  officers  to  collect  it.  In  1659,  two 
years  after  the  Act  was  first  passed,  the  Governor  was 
impowered  to  make  these  nominations.2  Each  col- 
lector, however,  had  to  be  accepted  and  endowed  with 
the  authority  to  act  by  the  English  Government, 
especially  after  he  came,  by  the  operation  of  the  Navi- 
gation laws,  to  receive  funds  belonging  to  the  English 
Treasury.     The   commission   granted   to   Christopher 

»  British  Colonial  Papers,  vol  ix.,  Nos.  40,  no;  vol.  x.,  Nos.  5, 
60, 1.  Kemp  had  already  occupied  the  position  by  the  appointment 
of  the  General  Assembly. 

*  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  i.,  p.  549. 


Taxation:  Collectors  593 

Wormeley  in  1699  was  entirely  in  harmony  with 
those  received  by  his  associates,  all  of  whom,  like 
himself,  had  first  been  named  by  the  Governor.1  Such 
was  the  case  with  John  Lear  and  Major  Charles  Scar- 
borough, who,  in  1692,  were  appointed  by  Nicholson 
collectors  of  the  duty  of  two  shillings  a  hogshead, 
as  well  as  of  the  duty  of  one  penny  a  pound  on  the 
tobacco  shipped,  not  to  England,  but  to  some  other 
of  the  English  Colonies.  These  officers  were  im- 
powered  to  make  collections  in  the  interval  preceding 
the  arrival  of  their  commissions.2  In  one  instance,  at 
least,  that  of  Peter  Heyman,  the  collector  for  the 
Lower  James  River  at  the  end  of  the  century,  the 
nomination  had  been  made  by  the  English  Commission- 
ers of  Customs  entirely  on  their  own  initiative.  He 
was  not  a  member  of  the  Virginian  Council  either  before, 
or  apparently  even  after  his  appointment;  which  he 
seems  to  have  secured  by  the  influence  of  his  family  in 
England,  where  he  himself  was  residing  when  chosen  to 
the  place.3 

Every  collector  was  authorized  to  appoint  a  deputy 
to  serve  temporarily  or  permanently  in  his  stead. 
At  a  meeting  of  the  Council  held  in  1692,  Christopher 
Wormeley  was  permitted  to  name  such  a  deputy  to 
represent  him  in  Stafford  county,  and  Edward  Hill  also 
one  to  represent  him  in  a  part  of  the  district  of  Upper 
James;  whilst  the  like  privilege  was,  on  the  same 
occasion,  granted  to  Col.  John  Lear  to  name  a  dep- 
uty at  Kikotan.     The  reason  given  for  allowing  the 

•  See  his  commission  as  printed  in  Calendar  of  Va.  State  Papers, 
vol.  i.,  p.  51. 

2  Minutes  of  Council,  April  29,  1692,  Colonial  Entry  Book, 
1680-95. 

3  Minutes  of  Council,  June  8,  1699,  B.  T.  Va.,  vol.  liii.  In  1699, 
the  Councillors  were  not  permitted  to  held  the  collectorships. 

VOL.    II. — 38. 


594  Political  Condition 

collectors  assistants  in  the  performance  of  their  duties 
was  that  it  was  often  the  only  way  to  prevent  fraud- 
ulent irregularities  on  the  part  of  shipmasters.1 

The  chief  duties  of  the  collector,  in  his  relation  to  the 
English  Government,  were,  first,  to  put  into  execution 
all  Parliamentary  measures  regulating  the  plantation 
trade;  second,  to  carry  out  the  instructions  given  him 
from  time  to  'time  by  the  Commissioners  of  the  English 
customs;  third,  to  enforce  all  the  provisions  respecting 
ships  and  crews  embodied  in  the  Navigation  Acts,  and 
to  report  all  violations  and  seizures  under  these  laws ; 
fourth,  to  see  that  the  arrival  of  every  sea-going  vessel 
was  reported  to  him,  and  that  her  cargo  remained 
undischarged  until  he  had  secured  full  information  as 
to  its  character,  and  also  as  to  the  port  from  which 
the  vessel  had  come,  whether  from  England,  or  an 
English  Colony, — in  which  last  circumstance,  should 
the  merchandise  on  board  be  of  English  manufacture, 
a  cocquet  was  to  be  exhibited  showing  the  payment  of 
the  duties  in  that  Colony;  fifth,  to  obtain  a  certificate 
from  every  captain  leaving  for  Europe  that  he  had  given 
bond  in  England,  that  he  would  land  his  cargo  there; 
sixth,  to  grant  a  certificate  to  every  such  captain  de- 
claring that  he  was  taking  his  commodities  out  of 

i  B.  T.  Va.,  1692,  No.  123.  Christopher  Wormeley,  according 
to  Edward  Randolph,  resided  fifty  miles  away  from  the  scene  of  his 
duties  as  collector.  He  had  appointed  Col.  Griffin  his  deputy. 
"Griffin  lives  by  the  water  side,"  so  Randolph  stated,  "and  enters 
into  a  book  the  names  of  the  masters  and  ships,  and  keeps  an  ac- 
count of  ye  fees  of  ye  office  for  entry  bonds,  certificates,  etc.  Col. 
Wormeley  goes  once  or  twice  a  year  to  receive  his  share  of  the 
fees,  but  whence  ye  vessel  comes,  ye  number  and  quality  of  ye 
men,  not  a  word."  Randolph  had  come  out  from  England  in 
order  to  make  a  report  on  the  manner  in  which  the  revenue  due  the 
English  Government  in  the  Colonies  was  collected;  B.  T.  Va.,  1692, 
No.  no. 


Taxation :  Collectors  595 

Virginia  in  a  legal  way;  seventh,  to  collect  all  duties 
payable  on  imported  or  exported  goods  of  various 
kinds ;  and,  finally,  to  send  such  information  as  to  each 
ship  sailing  for  England  with  a  cargo  of  tobacco  as 
would  enable  the  Commissioners  of  Customs  to  discover, 
after  the  cargo's  arrival,  whether  any  fraud  had  been 
committed. 

In  addition  to  these  duties,  each  collector  was  annually 
required  to  transmit  to  the  Commissioners  a  statement 
as  to  the  agricultural  commodities  produced  in  his 
district,  and  also  as  to  all  the  articles  manufactured 
there;  and  this  report  was  to  be  accompanied  by  a 
second  statement  as  to  the  number  of  vessels  belonging 
to  the  inhabitants,  and  where  and  by  whom  they  had 
been  constructed.  One  object  of  this  inquiry  was  to 
prevent  the  collectors  from  sharing  in  the  ownership  of 
a  trading  ship,  as  this  was  supposed  to  be  conducive 
to  fraud  in  the  performance  of  their  duties.1 

The  chief  duty  of  a  collector  in  relation  to  the 
Government  in  Virginia  was  to  receive  the  sums 
accruing  from  the  tax  of  two  shillings  imposed  on  every 
exported  hogshead.  These  sums  he  delivered  to  the 
Auditor  of  the  Colony  after  swearing  to  their  correct- 
ness before  the  Governor.2 

1  British  Colonial  Papers,  vol.  lix..  No.  34;  Colonial  Entry  Book, 
1680-95,  p.  156.  It  was  stated,  in  1699,  by  the  Commissioners  of 
Customs  that,  in  comparing  the  yearly  entries  at  the  custom- 
houses in  England  with  the  account  of  the  annual  proceeds  from  the 
tax  of  two  shillings  per  hogshead,  and  from  other  duties  in  Vir- 
ginia, there  was  revealed,  in  the  different  discrepancies,  evidence 
of  great  frauds  on  the  shipmasters'  part,  and  of  delinquencies  on 
the  part  of  the  collectors  themselves,  arising  either  from  neglect 
or  complicity.  Nicholson  was  ordered  to  appoint  no  one  col- 
lector who  was  largely  engaged  in  trade. 

2  Present  State  of  Virginia,  16Q7-8,  section  ix.  The  collector,  as 
an  officer  of  the  Colony,  was  often  described  as  "Receiver  of  the 


596  Political  Condition 

The  remuneration  of  the  collectors  was  not  incon- 
siderable:— they  received  a  fee  of  fifteen  shillings  for 
every  vessel  of  twenty  tons,  or  under,  arriving  in  the 
waters  of  their  respective  districts,  and  of  thirty  shil- 
lings for  every  vessel  of  more  than  twenty  tons;  but  if 
the  ship  had  been  built  in  Virginia,  the  fee  was,  in  both 
cases,  limited  to  ten  shillings  and  sixpence.  They 
were  also  authorized  to  charge  two  shillings  and  six- 
pence for  every  license  to  trade  issued  to  a  sea  captain, 
and  the  like  amount  for  every  bond  given  by  him  on 
the  same  occasion.  Finally,  it  was  estimated  that  the 
collectors  were,  as  the  legal  reward  for  their  services, 
entitled  to  not  less  than  twenty  per  cent,  of  the  entire 
amount  of  the  customs  paid  to  them  in  their  official 
capacity. * 

The  duties  of  the  naval  officer  were  so  involved  with 
the  collector's  that  the  two  sets  were  hardly  distinguish- 
able from  each  other.  During  many  years,  the  two 
positions  were  held  by  the  same  man  without  any 
apparent  detriment  to  the  public  interests.  The  right 
to  bestow  the  office  belonged  to  the  Governor;  but,  like 
the  nominations  to  the  collectorships,  his  appointment 
to  it  was,  no  doubt,  subject  to  the  approval  of  the 
English  Commissioners  of  Customs.2 

The  naval  officer  was  required  to  keep  a  strict  account 


Two  shillings  per  hogshead  and  the  Virginia  Duties. "  The  ex- 
amination of  his  accounts  by  the  Governor  and  Council  was  stated 
by  Hartwell  to  have  been  always  perfunctory.  See  also  B.  T.  Va., 
1697,  vol.  vi.,  No.  147;  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  iii.,  p.  195. 

»  Beverley's  History  of  Virginia,  pp.  197-8;  B.  T.  Va.,  1697, 
vol.  vi.,  No.  147.  The  fees  for  entering  and  clearing  vessels,  li- 
censing to  trade,  etc.,  were  reduced  by  Act  of  1699;  see  Hening's 
Statutes,  vol.  iii.,  p.  195. 

2  See  Hartwell's  Testimony,  B.  T.  Va.,  1697,  vol.  vi.,  p.  146;  also 
Nicholson's  Letter  dated  June  10,  B.  T.  Va.,  vol.  viii. 


Taxation:  Naval  Officers  597 

of  all  the  commodities  brought  into  the  Colony  or  carried 
out  of  it ;  and  also  to  make  an  accurate  note  of  the  names 
of  all  ships  arriving  and  departing,  their  tonnage,  the 
number  of  their  guns,  the  ports  from  which  they  last 
hailed,  and  those  to  which  they  designed  sailing  on  their 
next  voyage.  All  this  information  was  to  be  reported 
by  him  once  every  quarter,  or  four  times  a  year,  to  the 
Commissioners  of  Trade  and  Plantations. !  This  officer 
also  had  the  custody  of  the  different  certificates  and 
bonds  required,  under  the  Acts  of  Navigation,  of  all 
shipmasters,  whilst  the  cocquets  and  other  warrants  for 
merchandize  were  left  in  the  collector's  custody.2 
In  1698,  a  Councillor  having  been  forbidden  to  hold 
either  of  these  two  offices,  Nicholson  named  a  different 
person  to  fill  each,  on  the  ground  that  this  would  sub- 
serve the  merchants'  convenience,  and  advance  the 
prosperity  of  the  Colony's  trade.3  And  this  regulation 
was  in  force  during  the  remainder  of  the  century.4 
The  naval  officer,  by  way  of  remuneration  for  his 
services,  was  entitled  to  appropriate  ten  per  cent,  of  the 
quantity  of  tobacco  received  by  him;  and  was  allowed 
to  claim  certain  special  fees  in  addition.5 

•  See  Letter  of  Lord  Sunderland,  Colonial  Entry  Book,  1676-81, 
p.  403. 

2  Instructions  to  Collectors,  1686-7,  British  Colonial  Papers, 
vol.  lix.,  No.  34. 

3  B.  T.  Va.,   1699,  vol.  vii. 

<  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  iii.,  p.  195;  B.  T.  Va.,  vol.  vii.,  p.  126; 
Minutes  of  Council,  June  8,  1699,  B.  T.  Va.,  vol.  liii. 

s  Beverley's  History  of  Virginia,  pp.  197-8;  Hening's  Statutes, 
vol.  iii.,  p.  195. 


CHAPTER  XLII 
Taxation:  Auditor  and  Treasurer 

THERE  were  two  auditors  to  pass  on  the  annual 
returns  from  the  Colony's  indirect  taxes  during 
the  Seventeenth  century: — first,  the  Auditor- 
General,  who  resided  in  England,  and  was  the  final 
examiner  of  the  accounts  of  all  the  American  revenues 
coming  to  the  King;  and  secondly,  the  Auditor  whose 
home  was  situated  in  Virginia.  The  first  to  hold  the 
position  in  England  was  William  Blaithwayt,  who  was 
appointed  about  1680,  and  who  received  a  salary  of  an 
hundred  pounds  sterling.1  But  the  office  of  "Auditor 
and  Receiver  for  Virginia  Duties"  had  already  been 
created  in  the  Colony;  as  early  as  1654,  Thomas  Stegge 
was  occupying  it;  and  the  incumbent's  chief  duty  at 
that  time  was  to  compel  the  sheriffs  and  the  other  col- 
lectors of  the  revenue  belonging  to  the  King  to  render 
accounts  of  their  receipts  and  disbursements.  These 
accounts  were  always  submitted  at  Jamestown;  gen- 
erally in  March;  at  which  date  both  the  General  Court 
and  the  General  Assembly  were  sitting.2     Stegge  was 

1  B.  T.  Va.,  1699,  vol.  vii.,  pp.  41,  47.  This  was  the  amount  paid 
by  Virginia;  it  is  probable  that  he  received  additional  sums  from 
the  other  colonies. 

2  See  Stegge's  Proclamation  in  Surry  County  Records,  vol. 
1645-72,  p.  286,  Va.  St.  Libr.  The  duties  of  Auditor  were  at  first 
performed  by  the  Treasurer  of  the  Colony. 

598 


Taxation  :  Auditor  and  Treasurer     599 

succeeded  in  1670  by  John  Lightfoot,  whose  com- 
mission, however,  was  suspended  the  following  year 
because  Edward  Digges  had  been  promised  the  office 
as  a  reward  for  his  persistent  efforts  to  advance  silk 
culture  in  Virginia.1  About  seven  years  later,  Robert 
Ayleway  was  appointed  to.  the  Auditorship  for  life2 ; 
at  this  time,  the  elder  Nathaniel  Bacon  was  performing 
its  duties ;  and  it  became  necessary  for  him  now  either 
to  retire,  or  to  enter  into  an  agreement  with  Ayleway 
for  a  division  of  the  fees.  The  latter,  having  become 
Clerk  of  the  Ordnance  in  Ireland,  was  not  unwilling 
to  arrange  matters;  and  this  having  been  done,  Bacon 
remained  in  enjoyment  of  the  office  until  1687,  by  which 
year  his  physical  infirmities  had  so  grown  on  him 
that  he  was  compelled  to  resign  it.  The  elder  William 
Byrd  succeeded  him  by  authority  of  a  commission 
granted  by  James  II;  but  Ayleway  still  retained  his  in- 
terest in  the  office ;  and  it  was  not  until  Byrd  purchased 
this  interest  outright  that  he  obtained  an  exclusive  hold 
on  the  position,  which  continued  in  his  possession  until 
his  death.3 

In  a  general  way,  the  duty  of  the  Auditor  was  to 
examine  the  accounts  of  the  collectors  of  the  public 
revenues,  whether  belonging  to  the  King  or  to  the 
Colony.  These  revenues  consisted  of  the  following : — 
the  quit-rents ;  the  duty  of  two  shillings  imposed  on  every 
hogshead  exported;  the  tonnage  duty  of  fifteen  pence 

«  British  Colonial  Papers,  vol.  xxx.,  No.  37;  vol.  xli.,  No.  144; 
William  and  Mary  College  Quart.,  vol.  ii.,  204;  Dom.  Entry  Book, 
Charles  II.,  vol.  xxxi.,  p.  77. 

2  Ibid.,  vol.  xlii.,  No.  9. 

3  Minutes  of  Council,  June  20,  1688,  June  25,  July  11,  1689, 
B.  T.  Va.,  Entry  Book,  vol.  xxxvi.,  pp.  5,  8.  See  also  Preface, 
p.  xxv.,  to  Bassett's  edition  of  the  younger  Byrd's  Works;  Let- 
ters of  William  Byrd,  Aug.  8,  1690. 


600  Political  Condition 

payable  by  every  ship  arriving  in  the  waters  of  Virginia ; 
the  duty  of  one  penny  a  pound  placed  on  all  tobacco 
transported  to  any  English  Colony  in  America ;  fines  and 
forfeitures  of  different  kinds;  and,  finally,  all  other 
customs  of  whatever  nature  which  the  General  Assembly 
might  from  time  to  time  decide  to  establish,  whether 
designed  to  be  permanent  or  merely  temporary.1 

Having  made  out  his  own  account,  after  passing  on 
the  account  of  each  collector  of  the  various  duties  and 
customs,  the  Auditor  laid  it  before  the  Governor  and 
members  of  the  Council.  This  seems  to  have  been 
done  regularly  once  in  the  course  of  every  twelve 
months.2  Having  obtained  their  approval  (which 
appears,  as  a  rule,  to  have  been  a  nominal  proceeding), 
he  transmitted  the  account  to  the  Auditor-General 
in  England.  It  was  not  infrequently  accompanied, 
at  the  request  of  the  Governor  and  Council,  by  a  state- 
ment showing,  with  great  particularity,  the  amounts 
already  disbursed  for  the  support  of  the  local  govern- 
ment; and  the  object  of  this  seems  to  have  been  to 
influence  the  King  to  be  conservative  in  ordering  an  ap- 
propriation of  the  surplus,  as  there  might  be  further  need 
of  drawing  on  the  same  fund  for  the  Colony's  uses.3 

Previous  to  Culpeper's  administration,  the  Auditor 
was  required  to  submit  his  account  to  an  examination 

1  Culpeper's  Report,  1681,  Campbell's  History  of  Virginia,  p. 
353  ;  Beverley's  History  of  Virginia,  p.  196. 

2  In  1699,  tne  accounts  were  ordered  to  be  settled  once  every 
three  months;  see  Minutes  of  Council,  May  4,  1699,  B.  T.  Va., 
vol.  liii. 

3  Minutes  of  Council,  June  22,  1699,  B.  T.  Va.,  vol.  liii.  During 
some  years,  there  was  a  deficit.  In  1697,  Byrd  advanced  £2955 
to  cover  shortages  for  the  years  1696  and  1697,  brought  about  by 
extraordinary  drafts  upon  the  revenue.  For  this,  he  was,  in  1698, 
reimbursed  by  a  warrant  on  the  balance  remaining  in  the  treasury 
at  that  time;  Calendar  of  Va.  State  Papers,  vol.  i.,  p.  61. 


Taxation :  Auditor  and  Treasurer     601 

by  the  House  of  Burgesses  before  he  transmitted  it  to 
England;  this  gave  that  body  an  accurate  idea  of  the 
amount  of  the  revenues  reaching  his  hands ;  and  also  as 
to  how  these  revenues  had  been  expended.  Culpeper 
seems  to  have  been  successful  in  breaking  up  this  cus- 
tom; but  for  many  years  afterwards,  the  opinion  was 
repeatedly  expressed  by  leading  citizens  that  it  should 
be  restored. * 

Writing  in  1699,  Nicholson  urged  that  the  offices  of 
Auditor  and  Receiver  of  Virginia  Duties2  should  not 
be  held  by  the  same  man,  as  was  usual  at  that  time. 
One  result  of  the  prevailing  rule  was  that  the  Auditor 
passed  upon  the  accounts  of  money  which  he  himself 
had  paid  out  as  Receiver,  and  in  consequence,  there 
was  no  real  check  upon  careless  or  fraudulent  con- 
duct on  his  part  in  performing  the  respective  duties  of 
the  two  positions.  Nicholson  also  complained  of  the 
fact  that  the  Auditor  was  not  required  to  reside  per- 
manently at  the  seat  of  government;  or  at  least  live 
there  for  a  stated  period  during  every  year.  All  the 
accounts  of  the  office  at  this  time  were  kept  at  Byrd's 
dwelling  house,  where,  as  was  pointed  out,  they  were  in 
more  danger  of  destruction  by  fire  than  they  would  have 
been  had  they  been  kept  in  a  public  building  at  James- 
town; moreover,  so  long  as  these  accounts  remained 
in  the  Auditor's  own  home,  they  were,  at  his  death,  liable 
to  pass  to  his  executors  as  a  part  of  his  estate.  A  certain 
amount  of  tobacco  belonging  to  the  Government  was 
sure  to  be  at  the  same  place,  and  in  settling  the  deceased's 

•  See  letter  of  Thomas  Ludwell  written  in  1688,  Colonial  Entry- 
Book,  1685-90,  p.  276. 

2  "Receiver  of  the  Virginia  Duties, "  was  his  official  title.  These 
duties  consisted  chiefly  of  the  export  tax  on  furs  and  skins  and  the 
import  tax  on  liquors,  servants,  and  slaves;  see  oath,  Va.  Maga.  of 
Hist,  and  Biog.,  vol.  xi.,  p.  162. 


602  Political  Condition 

affairs,  this  revenue  would  become  confused  with  his 
private  property;  and  only  after  great  delay  could  it 
be  separated  and  delivered  to  the  public  authorities.1 
During  the  London  Company's  existence,  the  head 
of  that  great  body  was  known  as  the  Treasurer,  a  desig- 
nation attributable  to  the  fact  that,  as  the  legal  cus- 
todian of  the  corporate  revenues,  he  was,  at  the  end  of 
each  year,  required  to  submit  a  statement  as  to  his 
different  receipts  and  disbursements  during  the  previous 
twelve  months;  and  also  as  to  the  amount  of  funds  still 
remaining  in  his  hands.2  In  1619,  the  first  Assembly 
to  convene  in  the  Colony  requested  the  Company  to 
appoint  a  sub-treasurer,  and  to  order  him  to  reside 
permanently  in  Virginia  as  the  only  way  of  making  it 
convenient  to  the  planters  to  pay  their  quit-rents.3 
In  compliance  with  this  petition,  George  Sandys,  one 
of  the  most  accomplished  men  of  that  age,  was  nomi- 
nated; and,  in  162 1,  in  the  train  of  Wyatt,  he  arrived,  at 
Jamestown,  and  at  once  entered  upon  the  performance 
of  the  duties  of  the  office,* — duties  which,  at  this  early 
day,  consisted,  not  only  in  accounting  to  the  Company 
in  England  for  all  quit-rents  and  other  revenues  annually 
accruing,  but  also  in  carrying  out  that  body's  directions 
for  promoting  the  cultivation  of  what  were  described 
as  the  ''staple  commodities."  Sandys  received  a 
grant  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  pounds  sterling  to  meet 
the  expense  of  transporting  himself  and  the  other 
members  of  his  family  to  the  Colony;  his  office  was 
permanently  endowed  with  fifteen  hundred  acres;  and 

1  Nicholson's  Letter,  July,  1699,  B.  T.  Va.,  1699,  vol.  vii. 

2  Orders  and  Constitutions,  161 9, 1620,  Force's  Hist.  Tracts,  vol.  Hi. 
a  Minutes  of  Assembly,   p.    16,   Colonial   Records  of  Virginia, 

State  Senate  Doct.,  Extra,  1874. 

*  Randolph  MS.,  vol.  iii.,  p.  161;  Campbell's  History  of  Virginia, 
P-  IS1- 


Taxation :  Auditor  and  Treasurer     603 

fifty  experienced  tenants  were  sent  over  to  make  this 
large  and  valuable  estate  immediately  profitable.1 

Jerome  Hawley,  a  brother  of  Gabriel  Hawley ,  the  Sur- 
veyor-General of  Virginia,  was,  in  1637-8,  appointed  to 
the  office  of  Treasurer.  He  seems  to  have  been  the  first 
person  nominated  to  the  position  after  the  Company's 
dissolution,  an  event  that  had  taken  place  some  twelve 
years  before.2  Like  his  predecessor,  Sandys,  he  was 
sent  to  Virginia  primarily  to  ensure  a  more  careful  and 
thorough  collection  of  the  quit-rents,  for  which  certain 
important  provisions  were  now  adopted;  but  in  addition, 
he  was  to  serve  as  custodian  of  all  funds  accruing  from 
the  fines  or  forfeitures  imposed  by  any  court  in  the 
Colony.  His  annual  account  of  the  moneys  obtained 
from  these  sources  was  to  be  submitted  to  the  Governor 
and  Council;  and  their  approval  having  been  obtained, 
the  report  was  then  to  be  forwarded  to  England.3 

Roger  Wingate  was,  in  1640,  acting  as  the  Treasurer 
of  the  Colony.  A  few  years  afterwards,  when  the  basis 
of  taxation  was  extended  to  land,  horses,  cattle,  and 
other  livestock,  this  officer  was  ordered  by  the  General 
Assembly  to  "make  out  a  detailed  report  as  to  the 
whole  amount  of  real  and  personal  property  to  be  found 

1  Abstracts  of  Proceedings  of  Va.  Co.  of  London,  vol.  i.,  p.  119. 

2  British  Colonial  Papers,  vol.  ix.,  No.  33.  Richard  Kemp  seems 
to  have,  before  Hawley's  arrival,  performed  some  of  the  duties 
incident  to  the  treasurership.  When  Hawley  demanded  the  full 
enjoyment  of  all  the  rights  of  the  office,  Kemp  began  to  stickle  on 
a  question  of  precedency,  which  he  claimed  belonged  to  him  both 
as  Secretary  and  as  the  most  "ancient"  councillor.  For  several 
days,  he  declined  to  set  his  name  to  any  order  which  had  been 
previously  signed  by  Hawley.  So  great  was  his  umbrage  over  his 
loss  of  income  in  consequence  of  Hawley's  appointment,  that,  upon 
this  ground  alone,  "a  distance"  was  long  kept  between  the  two 
officers;  on  the  initiative,  however,  of  Kemp  himself;  British  Colo- 
nial Papers,  vol.  ix.,  1636-8,  No.  no;  also  No.  36. 

3  Ibid.,  1638-9,  33,  33  I. 


604  Political  Condition 

in  each  county."1  After  the  Restoration,  Henry 
Norwood,  a  faithful  adherent  of  the  royal  family  in  the 
hour  of  danger  and  misfortune,  received  the  gift  of  the 
place  by  the  direct  intervention  of  Charles  II  himself; 
and  he  seems  to  have  held  it  to  a  date  as  late  as  167  j.2 
In  the  following  year,  Gawin  Corbin  was  serving  as 
Deputy-Treasurer,  apparently  under  Thomas  Ludwell 
as  Treasurer. 

Down  to  1 69 1,  the  Treasurer  seems  to  have  been 
appointed  by  the  English  Government,  but  in  the 
course  of  that  year,  the  General  Assembly  elected  such 
an  officer,  whose  duties,  however,  probably  did  not 
extend  to  any  revenues,  such  as  the  quit-rents,  which 
could  be  looked  on  as  belonging  exclusively  to  the  King. 
The  first  Treasurer  by  the  choice  of  that  body  was 
Colonel  Edward  Hill,  who  was  instructed  to  take  into 
his  keeping  all  the  funds  accruing  under  the  operation 
of  the  Act  for  Ports  passed  to  ensure  a  more  thorough 
collection  of  the  customs;  and  also  from  the  duty 
placed  on  imported  liquors.  Hill  was  required  to  give 
a  bond  with  a  penalty  of  five  thousand  pounds  sterling; 
and  his  salary  was  fixed  at  six  per  cent,  of  his  entire 
receipts.3  Robert  Carter  was  occupying  the  office  at 
the  close  of  the  century.4 

1  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  i.,  p.  306. 

2  York  County  Records,  vol.  1664-72,  pp.  30,  31,  Va.  St.  Libr.; 
Campbell's  History  of  Virginia,  p.  327. 

*  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  iii.,  p.  92. 

«  B.  T.  Va.,  vol.  vii.,  p.  323;  Hening's  Statutes,  vol.  iii.,  p.  197. 
Carter  seems  to  have  been  appointed  in  1699  to  receive  the  revenues 
accruing  from  the  temporary  tax  on  newly  imported  servants  and 
slaves,  and  also  from  that  on  imported  liquors.  In  his  testimony 
before  the  English  Commissioners  in  1697,  Henry  Hartwell  said: 
"The  House  of  Burgesses  have  pretended  to  a  right  of  naming  a 
Treasurer  of  their  own,  which  very  lately  denyed  them  makes  them 
suspicious  and  more  unwilling  to  raise  money";  B.  T.  Va.,  1697, 
vol.  vi.,  p.  145. 


CHAPTER  XLIII 
Conclusion 

IN  considering  retrospectively  the  different  conditions 
prevailing  in  Virginia  during  the  Seventeenth 
century,  the  historian  is  deeply  impressed  with  its 
close  resemblance  in  all  the  varied  aspects  of  its  life, 
save  the  agricultural  alone,  to  the  Mother  Country. 
The  Colony  had  been  settled,  not,  like  New  England, 
by  the  representatives  of  a  single  section  of  the  English 
people,  namely,  those  in  sympathy  with  a  special  phase 
of  religious  belief,  and  its  austere  social  influences,  but 
by  representatives  of  the  English  people  at  large,  who 
were  profoundly  devoted  to  the  monarchical  principle, 
to  the  doctrines  of  the  Anglican  Church,  and  to  the 
liberal  and  generous  social  traditions  of  their  race. 
The  conditions  observed  in  Virginia  were,  as  a  conse- 
quence, much  nearer  to  those  which,  in  these  early 
times,  gave  a  distinctive  character  to  an  English  com- 
munity; it  was  much  more  a  segment  of  the  Mother 
Country,  because  more  reflective  of  the  typical  di- 
versities of  life  and  thought  prevailing  there, — indeed, 
it  can  be  justly  said  that  Virginia,  in  the  Seventeenth 
century,  resembled  England  as  closely  as  it  was 
possible  for  a  sparsely  settled  colony  of  small  wealth, 
situated  in  a  remote  quarter  of  the  globe,  to  do.  All 
the  divergencies,  like  the  system  of  agriculture,  for 

605 


606  Political  Condition 

instance,  had  been  practically  dictated  by  certain  con- 
ditions existing  in  a  land  recently  rescued  from  the 
forest  and  the  savage, — conditions  not  to  be  over- 
looked in  carrying  out  a  general  policy  of  adopting 
English  methods,  customs,  and  laws. 

Perhaps,  the  most  striking  points  of  resemblance 
were  to  be  discovered  in  the  respective  social  habits  and 
leanings  of  the  two  peoples.  There  are  several  reasons 
which  account  for  this  fact. 

First,  the  direct  English  descent  of  the  Virginians 
of  that  age.  The  great  bulk  of  the  inhabitants  of  the 
Colony  of  all  ranks  were  sprung  from  the  English 
stock.  The  Scotch  and  Irish  elements  at  this  early 
period  were  entirely  lost  in  the  mass  of  population; 
and  whilst  the  Dutch  and  French  were  of  somewhat 
greater  consequence,  nevertheless  persons  of  those 
nationalities  were  not  sufficiently  numerous  to  make 
any  permanent  impression  on  the  social  tendencies 
of  the  communities  in  which  they  resided.  Indeed, 
throughout  the  greater  part  of  the  Seventeenth  century, 
the  principal  citizens  of  Dutch  and  French  origin  had 
intermarried  with  Englishwomen,  and  their  children 
did  not  differ  in  any  respect  from  the  children  of 
planters  of  the  purest  English  blood.  The  foreign 
infusion  was  practically  obliterated  by  the  second 
generation.  The  whole  population,  therefore,  was 
always  essentially  and  typically  Anglo-Saxon;  and 
that  being  the  case,  it  is  only  natural  that  the  entire 
community  should  have  been  controlled  by  those 
ideas,  traditions,  and  customs  which  had  long  char- 
acterized the  social  life  of  the  vast  majority  of  the 
English  people  at  home. 

The  fact  that  the  Virginians  clung  with  such  tenacity 
to  every  tie   binding  them  to  the  Mother  Country 


Conclusion  607 

sprang,  in  no  small  measure,  from  the  completeness 
with  which  they  had  inherited  all  its  social  peculiar- 
ities, from  the  division  into  social  ranks  to  the  popular 
indoor  and  outdoor  pastimes.  No  order  of  nobility 
of  course  prevailed  in  the  Colony,  but  the  line  separat- 
ing the  gentleman  from  the  yeoman,  and  the  yeoman 
from  the  agricultural  servant,  was  as  sharply  drawn 
as  in  England.  All  the  ceremonial  terms  indicating 
social  distinctions,  all  the  badges  and  insignia  marking 
pride  of  blood,  were  in  as  constant  use  in  Virginia  as 
in  England  itself.  Custom  gave  as  authoritative 
sanction  to  gradations  of  social  rank  in  the  Colony  as 
the  law  gave  in  the  Mother  Country.  The  social  gulf  ly- 
ing between  powerful  and  wealthy  citizens  like  the  elder 
William  Byrd,  Richard  Lee,  or  Nicholas  Spencer,  and 
the  obscure  proprietor  owning  an  adjacent  estate  of  a 
few  hundred  acres,  was  as  great  as  that  dividing  the 
English  nobleman  from  a  neighbor  who  occupied  the 
same  situation  in  life  as  the  Virginian  yeoman.  The 
exigencies  of  a  new  country  were  undoubtedly  pro- 
ductive of  a  closer  personal  sympathy  between  the 
different  classes  in  the  Colony  than  was  to  be  observed 
between  the  different  classes  in  England  in  that  age, 
but  this  sympathy  did  not  serve,  to  an  appreciable 
degree,  to  break  down  the  fundamental  barriers  divid- 
ing the  different  social  orders. 

From  the  beginning,  Virginia  was  a  highly  organized 
social  community.  There  was  at  no  period  in  its 
history  during  the  Seventeenth  century  any  of  that 
social  equality  which,  in  more  recent  times,  has  dis- 
tinguished the  life  of  American  frontier  settlements. 
The  aristocratic  framework  of  its  society  was  coeval 
with  the  foundation  of  Jamestown.  As  the  century 
drew  on  to  a  close,  that  framework  was  seen  to  have 


.,-"' 


608  Political  Condition 

• 
been  strengthened  rather  than  weakened  by  the  Col- 
ony's growth  in  wealth  and  population.  One  of  the 
most  conspicuous  proofs  of  this  fact  is  to  be  found 
in  the  change  in  the  basis  of  suffrage;  in  the  earlier 
years,  every  freeman  enjoyed  the  right  to  vote,  but 
after  the  Restoration,  when  the  influence  of  the  upper 
class  had  become  all-powerful,  the  franchise  was  con- 
fined to  freeholders  and  householders;  and  near  the 
end  of  the  century,  it  was  restricted  to  freeholders 
alone.  There  are  other  indications  equally  unmis- 
takable that  time  only  gave  additional  vigor  to  the 
aristocratic  spirit  already  pervading  the  social  life  of 
the  community. 

The  loyalty  of  the  people  of  the  Colony  to  the  social 
characteristics  of  the  Mother  Country  was  shown,  to 
the  same  remarkable  degree,  in  all  their  social  customs 
and  diversions.  It  was  observed  in  the  celebrations 
of  funerals  and  weddings;  and  also  in  those  varied 
scenes  accompanying  the  other  large  popular  gather- 
ings, whether  held  on  the  muster  field,  on  the  court- 
house green,  or  at  the  church  door.  It  was  observed 
in  their  love  of  those  indoor  amusements  which  had 
long  entertained  the  English  in  their  hours  of  leisure, 
such  as  card-playing,  dice-throwing,  betting,  acting, 
ten-pins,  and  dancing.  It  was  observed  in  their 
love  of  those  numerous  pastimes  in  which  the  horse 
played  a  leading  part ;  especially  in  their  love  of  trials 
of  speed,  upon  a  public  or  private  race  course,  partici- 
pated in  by  many  trained  steeds.  It  was  observed 
in  their  love  of  such  sports  in  the  open  air  as  following 
the  hare  and  raccoon  with  dogs,  hunting  the  partridge, 
turkey,  pigeon,  and  wild  water-fowl  with  guns,  catch- 
ing fish  with  hook  and  line,  or  striking  them  with 
spears.     Indeed,  the  people  of  Virginia  were  even  more 


Conclusion  609 

ardent  and  constant  in  the  pursuit  of  all  these  amuse- 
ments than  the  English  because  more  dependent  upon 
them  for  diversion.  And  for  the  same  reason,  they 
carried  their  observance  of  the  laws  of  hospitality 
even  further;  which'  led  them  to  welcome  to  their 
homes  kinsman,  friend,  or  stranger  with  more  warmth 
and  unreserve  than  was  usually  displayed  in  the  Mother 
Country. 

The  second  great  influence  at  work  to  promote  the 
Colony's  social  resemblance  to  the  Mother  Country 
sprang  from  the  fact  that,  with  barely  an'  exception, 
the  foremost  citizens  throughout  the  Seventeenth 
century  had  not  only  been  born  in  England,  but  had 
been  reared  and  educated  there;  when  they  left  the 
Mother  Country  in  order  to  make  a  permanent 
home  oversea,  their  characters  had  been  formed,  and 
their  opinions  fixed,  by  the  general  tone  of  the  com- 
munities in  which  their  previous  life  had  been  passed. 
They  were  Englishmen,  not  only  by  descent  and  na- 
tivity, but  also  by  all  those  subtle  influences  of  per- 
sonal association  and  personal  observation  brought  to 
bear  upon  their  dispositions  in  their  childhood,  youth, 
and  early  manhood.  It  was  under  an  English  roof 
that  their  first  lesson  in  social  laws  had  been  incul- 
cated; it  was  in  intercourse  with  English  companions 
that  their  first  knowledge  of  social  amusements  had 
been  obtained;  it  was  at  an  English  school  that  they 
had  acquired  their  first  learning  in  letters;  it  was  by 
an  English  clergyman  that  they  had  been  first  grounded 
in  religious  doctrine.  In  short,  every  impression 
which  they  had  received  at  this  susceptible  age  was 
purely  English.  Their  views  as  to  religious  faith,  as 
to  forms  of  government,  as  to  the  social  order,  as  to 
rights  of  private  property, — all  had  been  shaped  by 

VOL.   II — 39 


610  Political  Condition 

the  particular  English  ideas  they  had  inherited  or 
imbibed.  The  energy,  firmness,  and  enterprise  re- 
flected in  their  willingness  to  emigrate  indicated  that 
they  were  animated  to  an  extraordinary  degree  by  the 
spirit  of  the  very  greatest  of  the  English  personal 
qualities ;  and  it  was  this  very  fact  that  chiefly  accounts 
for  the  social  and  political  influence  which  so  many  of 
these  transplanted  Englishmen  possessed  after  their 
removal  to  the  Colony.  Samuel  Mathews,  Richard 
Lee,  the  elder  Nathaniel  Bacon,  Thomas  Ludwell,  the 
elder  William  Byrd,  Robert  Beverley,  William  Fitz- 
hugh,  and  a  hundred  others  of  equal  prominence  at 
one  time  or  another  during  the  course  of  the  Seven- 
teenth century,  were  natives  of  England,  were  reared 
in  English  homes,  were  educated  in  English  schools,  and 
had  mingled  until  their  majority  in  English  social  life. 
It  was  these  men  who  shaped  the  history  of  Virginia 
during  this  long  period,  whether  we  regard  that  his- 
tory from  a  social,  political,  or  economic  point  of 
view;  and  it  was  only  natural  that  the  personal  in- 
fluence exercised  by  them  precisely  resembled  in 
character  the  personal  influence  exercised  by  their 
contemporaries  in  England  who  stood  in  the  same 
social  rank,  owned  the  same  amount  of  property,  and 
were  distinguished  by  the  same  moral  and  intellectual 
qualities.  The  large  land-owner  of  gentle  descent  and 
powerful  family  connections  residing  in  one  of  the 
English  shires  did  not  occupy  a  more  commanding 
position  in  his  own  community  than  William  Fitzhugh 
did  in  the  upper  part  of  the  Northern  Neck,  William 
Byrd  in  the  upper  valley  of  the  James,  Robert  Beverley 
in  Middlesex,  or  Adam  Thoroughgood  in  Lower  Nor- 
folk. And  this  great  personal  weight  was  derived  in 
every  instance  from  exactly  the  same  causes,  namely, 


Conclusion  611 

the  possession  of  unusual  mental  and  moral  force,  the 
enjoyment  of  large  estates,  and  perfect  sympathy  in 
religious,  political,  and  social  opinion  with  the  mass 
of  the  people  amongst  whom  they  lived. 

The  points  of  view  of  the  general  population  were 
already  distinctly  English,  but  the  whole  influence  of 
these  prominent  men,  as  exerted  by  example,  was 
directed  towards  making  these  points  of  view  more 
English  still,  and  this  they  did  by  their  observance 
of  all  the  English  rules  in  the  management  of  their 
domestic  affairs;  by  their  loyalty  to  those  social  cus- 
toms they  had  first  come  to  know  in  English  homes; 
by  their  reverence  for  those  social  ideals  they  had 
drunk  in  with  their  mothers'  milk;  by  their  devotion 
to  the  form  of  government  under  which  they  were 
born,  and  their  respect  for  every  branch  of  official 
authority ;  by  their  reverence  for  the  Church  of  England, 
whose  doctrines  had  been  instilled  into  their  minds  in 
their  childhood;  and  by  a  personal  demeanor  marked 
by  all  that  stateliness  and  dignity  springing  from  the 
consciousness  of  gentle  descent  and  superior  talents, 
from  long  intercourse  with  refined  society,  from  the 
enjoyment  of  fortune,  and  from  the  possession  of 
the  best  literary  culture  afforded  by  the  age.  How 
fructifying  were  the  social  influences  pervading  the 
Virginian  homes  of  these  conspicuous  transplanted 
Englishmen  is  revealed  in  the  extraordinary  personal 
attractiveness  of  many  of  their  sons.  Such  men  as 
the  younger  Daniel  Parke,  and  the  younger  William 
Byrd,  as  we  know,  won  a  high  consideration  in  some 
of  the  most  critical  drawing-rooms  of  the  Old  World, 
and  showed  themselves  fully  equal  to  all  the  exacting 
requirements  set  by  the  social  standards  of  its  most 
polished  and  accomplished  circles. 


612  Political  Condition 

A  third  influence  promoting  the  Colony's  social 
resemblance  to  the  Mother  Country  was  the  existence 
in  Virginia  also  of  a  system  of  extensive  landed  estates. 
The  large  plantation  had  its  origin,  as  has  been  pointed 
out  elsewhere,  primarily  in  the  peculiar  requirements 
of  tobacco  culture.  Tobacco  was  a  plant  that  de- 
manded the  richest  soil  for  its  production  in  perfection. 
There  were  no  artificial  manures  in  that  age  which 
could  be  used  for  the  restoration  of  the  fertility  of 
old  fields  worn  out  by  exhaustive  methods  of  tillage; 
and  the  only  means  of  overcoming  this  condition  was 
to  create  new  fields  by  removing  the  heavy  forest 
growth,  whether  primeval  or  secondary.  In  order 
to  secure  such  new  fields,  it  was  necessary  that  the 
area  of  each  plantation  should  reach  over  a  very  con- 
siderable surface  of  ground;  and  the  greater  the  plan- 
tation, the  more  certain  it  was  that  there  would  always 
be  virgin  lands  within  its  boundaries  to  open  up. 
There  was  no  disposition  on  the  part  of  the  authorities 
to  check  this  economic  tendency,  not  only  because 
its  practical  necessity  was  recognized,  but  also  because 
one  of  its  chief  results  was  to  press  back  the  line  of 
frontier,  since  the  search  for  a  fresh  and  rich  soil,  not 
always  to  be  supplied  by  an  old  plantation,  was  con- 
stantly inducing  the  settlers  to  spread  out  further  and 
further.  As  the  line  of  frontier  was  moved  outward, 
the  danger  of  Indians  making  incursions  into  the  heart 
of  the  Colony  permanently  vanished,  and  thus  the 
Colony  was  in  a  position  to  preserve  and  increase 
the  strength  and  wealth  of  its  central  parts  without 
interference. 

But  the  tendency  toward  the  large  plantation  did 
not  arise  altogether  from  the  needs  of  tobacco  culture. 
It  was  partly  due  to  a  characteristic  of  the  land-owners 


Conclusion  613 

derived  from  their  English  fathers,  namely,  a  desire 
for  privacy  in  their  domestic  life.  A  love  of  isolation 
in  the  situation  of  his  home  has  long  been  a  conspicuous 
trait  of  the  rural  Englishman  of  fortune;  and  it  is  as 
noticeable  in  him  to-day  as  it  was  three  hundred  years 
ago.  If  compelled  to  erect  his  residence  near  a  public 
highway,  owing  to  the  small  size  of  his  estate,  he  will 
shut  out  public  observation  by  building  a  high  wall, 
or  planting  a  thick  hedge  around  his  grounds.  If, 
however,  his  lands  spread  over  much  space,  his  dis- 
position is  to  erect  his  dwelling  house  where  it  will  be 
screened  entirely  from  view  by  groups  of  trees,  or  by 
the  intervening  distance.  This  was  the  feeling  of  the 
Englishmen  of  means  who  settled  in  Virginia.  One 
of  the  greatest  advantages,  in  their  opinion,  attending 
the  acquisition  of  an  extensive  tract  there  was  that 
it  permitted  the  choice  of  a  site  for  a  home  where  the 
proprietor  could  live  in  complete  retirement,  except 
so  far  as  it  might  be  broken  by  the  welcome  presence 
of  kinsmen,  friends,  and  invited  strangers.  The  se- 
cluded existence  of  the  plantation  had  a  tendency 
to  confirm  the  disposition  of  the  transplanted  English- 
man to  reside  out  of  sight  of  the  public  road,  a  dispo- 
sition he  had  inherited  from  his  ancestors.  The  larger 
the  estate,  the  more  certainly  was  this  disposition 
gratified.  Moreover,  in  Virginia  as  in  England  the 
social  importance  of  the  land-owner  was  very  much 
dependent  upon  the  extent  of  his  holdings;  and  the 
influence  of  this  fact  also  stole  in  to  promote  his  desire 
to  secure  possession  of  as  large  an  estate  as  it  was 
possible  for  him  to  do. 

The  immediate  effect  of  the  system  of  large  planta- 
tions was  to  foster  and  strengthen  in  these  transplanted 
Englishmen  all  those  traits  which  had  been  a  part  of 


•" 


614  Political  Condition 

their  moral  and  intellectual  growth  before  they  emi- 
grated to  Virginia.  The  remoteness  and  the  seclusion 
of  the  plantation  life  created  no  influence  to  modify 
these  traits;  on  the  contrary,  that  life  would  seem  to 
have  offered  more  unobstructed  room  for  the  display 
of  these  traits  than  did  England  itself,  for,  being  more 
retired  and  more  independent,  it  must  have  been  less 
conventional  and  less  artificial  in  its  general  character. 
The  land-owner  was  left  to  act  wholly  in  accord  with 
the  ideas  and  habits  he  had  brought  with  him  to  the 
Colony, — indeed,  there  was  nothing  whatever  to  inter- 
fere with  his  continuing  to  govern  his  life  by  the  general 
principles  of  thought  and  conduct  in  which  he  had  been 
reared.  All  the  tendencies  of  the  prevailing  system 
really  accentuated  the  leanings  derived  from  his  early 
environment  and  education.  His  jealousy  of  his 
personal  liberty  of  action  was  only  increased;  his  love 
of  political  freedom  was  only  enhanced;  his  devotion 
to  his  home  and  family  was  only  intensified;  his  hos- 
pitable disposition  was  only  promoted;  and  his  re- 
ligious sense  was  only  made  the  deeper.  In  brief, 
his  loyalty  to  all  the  English  ideals  in  every  depart- 
ment of  life  only  grew  the  more  ardent  and  the  more 
unreserved. 

A  fourth  influence  promoting  the  Colony's  social 
resemblance  to  the  Mother  Country  arose  from  the 
presence  of  the  indentured  servant  and  the  slave. 
During  the  existence  of  the  term  for  which  he  was  bound 
out,  the  servant,  whether  domestic  or  agricultural, 
was  as  completely  in  the  power  and  under  the  control 
of  the  master  as  if  he  were  in  the  same  state  of  bondage 
as  the  negro.  He  could  be  sold  or  disposed  of  by  will 
with  equal  conformity  to  the  law;  the  only  difference 
was  that  he  could  be  held  only  during  the  continuation 


Conclusion  615 

of  his  term,  whilst  the  slave  remained  the  property 
of  his  owner  during  life.  The  fact  that  the  negro  had  no 
ground  for  expecting  the  termination  of  his  bondage, 
and  the  fact  also  that  he  was  by  nature  more  docile 
and  submissive,  made  him  more  subservient  to  his 
master,  and  his  master  in  turn  more  kind  and  affection- 
ate to  him.  The  slave  stopped  permanently  on  the 
plantation;  the  indentured  servant,  on  the  other  hand, 
departed  at  the  end  of  his  term,  and  was  quite  prob- 
ably seen  no  more  by  his  former  employer.  The  slave 
generally  died  on  the  plantation  on  which  he  was  born. 
That  was  his  home;  and  there  he  looked  forward  to 
being  buried.  His  interest  in  his  master's  family  was 
naturally  keener,  than  that  felt  by  an  indentured  ser- 
vant; his  identification  with  that  family  far  closer, 
and  his  pride  in  all  that  concerned  its  members  far 
more  lively.  This  greater  personal  devotion,  this 
more  cheerful  and  more  complete  self -obliteration, 
brought  about  by  the  difference  in  his  situation,  made 
the  influence  springing  from  slavery  more  feudal  and 
more  baronial  than  the  influence  springing  from  in- 
dentured service;  but  indentured  service,  on  the  other 
hand,  by  subordinating  one  set  of  white  people  abso- 
lutely to  another  set,  accentuated  even  more  than 
slavery  did  the  differences  of  social  degree  among  the 
whites  themselves.  The  great  body  of  white  servants 
formed  a  separate  class  of  itself,  the  lowest  in  the  social 
scale  among  the  white  population.  It  was  a  class  as 
clearly  recognized  by  law  in  Virginia  as  the  class  of 
noblemen,  at  the  other  end  of  the  scale,  was  in  England. 
The  fact  that  the  chance  of  becoming  a  prosperous 
land-owner  himself  after  his  term  had  ended  was  open 
to  every  indentured  servant  made  no  difference  in 
his  standing  as  long  as  he  was  actually  under  articles. 


616  Political  Condition 

The  class  always  remained,  however  constantly  the 
individuals  composing  it  were  changing;  and  its  ex- 
istence raised  and  confirmed  the  social  position  held 
by  the  highest  circle  of  planters. 

It  was  not  simply  by  the  creation  of  a  practically 
enslaved  class  among  the  great  body  of  whites  them- 
selves that  indentured  service  promoted  an  aristocratic 
spirit  in  the  social  life  of  the  Colony.  The  white  per- 
sons bound  out  under  articles  required  even  more 
skill  for  their  management  and  control  than  the  ne- 
groes; they  were  more  difficult  to  govern  and  direct 
to  advantage;  and,  therefore,  their  supervision  con- 
stituted a  finer  school  than  the  supervision  of  slaves 
for  the  cultivation  of  the  power  to  command  men, 
and  of  the  ability  to  obtain  from  them  the  largest 
amount  of  labor  within  a  given  time. 

It  was  not  until  towards  the  end  of  the  century  that 
the  number  of  the  negro  bondsmen  approximated  the 
number  of  white  servants.  In  1649,  there  were  only 
three  hundred  blacks  included  in  the  population, 
but  in  1700  there  were  many  thousand.  It  was  the 
indentured  servant  and  not  the  slave  who  played  the 
chief  industrial  part  throughout  the  greater  portion 
of  this  century;  and,  therefore,  the  influence  exercised 
by  the  former  upon  the  social  institutions  of  the  Colony 
during  this  long  period,  was  far  greater  than  that 
exercised  by  the  latter.  But  it  shows  how  similar 
the  social  and  economic  influence  of  indentured  service 
and  slavery  respectively  was,  that,  when  slavery  began 
in  the  system  of  colonial  life  to  overbalance  indentured 
service,  not  only  was  no  divergence  in  the  spirit  of 
that  system  observed,  but  this  spirit  was  only  the  more 
strongly  confirmed  in  the  direction  which  it  had  already 
taken. 


Conclusion  617 

Virginia's  resemblance  to  the  Mother  Country  during 
the  Seventeenth  century  was,  from  a  religious  and  moral 
point  of  view,  as  remarkable  as  it  was  from  a  purely 
social.  The  population  of  the  Colony,  as  already 
pointed  out,  was  not  drawn  from  any  one  section  of 
the  English  communities  which  had  grown  out  of 
sympathy  with  the  disposition  of  a  majority  of  their 
compatriots.  In  their  social  customs  and  habits,  as 
we  have  seen,  the  Virginians  were  in  touch  with  the 
great  bulk  of  the  English  people;  and  so  were  they 
in  the  moral  standards  which  they  applied  to  personal 
conduct.  They  combined  the  power  to  enjoy  all  the 
pleasures  and  amusements  of  life  with  an  unaffected 
reverence  for  religion,  and  a  genuine  respect  for  mo- 
rality. In  Virginia  as  in  England,  among  the  men  who 
played  the  various  games  of  chance  so  popular  in  that 
age, — who  attended  and  bet  on  the  public  races, — 
who  flirted  with  the  prettiest  women  at  the  musters, — 
who  danced  untiringly  at  balls  in  the  plantation 
homes, — and  who  feasted  and  drank  mutual  healths 
on  social  occasions  in  private  houses  with  all  the  zest 
of  their  mediaeval  forefathers, — were  the  very  ones 
who,  from  the  county  benches,  enforced,  with  most 
strictness,  the  rigid  laws  adopted  for  the  observance 
of  the  Sabbath,  and  the  suppression  of  the  vices  of 
profanity,  drunkenness,  bastardy,  and  the  like.  It 
was  they  who  set  the  example  in  being  present  at 
religious  services  with  regularity,  and  were  most  reso- 
lute in  requiring  that  this  example  should  be  followed. 
It  was  they  who  saw  that  the  helpless  poor  obtained 
relief  from  the  parish;  and  it  was  they  who  also  most 
frequently  remembered  the  indigent  in  their  last  wills. 
In  their  daily  lives,  they  acted  upon  the  principle 
inculcated  by  all  the  influences  of  the  Anglican  Church 


618  Political  Condition 

to  which  they  belonged,  namely,  that  there  was  no 
inconsistency  between  religion  and  morality  and  a 
reasonable  indulgence  in  pleasure  and  amusement; 
and  if  they  sometimes  erred  on  the  side  of  excess,  it 
was  to  be  set  down  to  human  infirmity  (which  they 
were  the  first  to  condemn),  and  not  to  deliberate 
bestiality. 

There  are  numerous  indications  that  the  moral 
tone  of  Virginia  in  these  early  times  was  in  some 
respects  higher  than  that  of  the  Mother  Country. 
There  was  apparently  among  the  Colonists  none  of 
that  love  of  cruel  sports  long  distinguishing  the 
English  people.  The  confinement  of  extreme  pov- 
erty to  a  very  few  persons,  and  the  entire  absence 
of  town  life,  prevented  the  creation  in  Virginia  of  a 
degraded  class  resembling  the  one  observed  in  England, 
whose  members  had  reached  a  condition  of  great 
brutality  in  their  general  character.  The  class  of 
which  the  like  might  have  been  expected  in  the  Colony 
was  in  a  state  of  indentured  service,  and,  therefore, 
subject  to  strict  and  continuous  supervision.  And 
when  the  members  of  this  class  became  free,  they  did 
not  congregate,  as  in  England,  and  grow  more  vicious 
still,  but  instead  either  scattered  over  the  face  of  the 
sparsely  settled  country  in  search  of  employment,  or 
acquired  an  interest  in  a  small  newly  patented  estate 
situated  on  the  frontier.  Their  wide  dispersion,  in 
consequence,  made  it  easier  for  the  magistrates, 
vestries,  and  clergymen  to  protect  the  moral  interests 
of  the  Colony  from  their  possible  bad  influence. 

The  whole  religious  establishment  was  modelled 
on  that  of  the  Mother  Country.  There  was  the  division 
into  parishes,  and  the  government  by  vestries.  The 
clergymen  were  supported  by  tithes  regularly  levied, 


Conclusion  619 

and  were  required  to  conform  strictly  to  the  canons 
and  doctrines  of  the  Church  of  England.  Schism  and 
dissent  found  no  favor  among  any  great  number  of 
the  members  of  the  educated  and  ruling  classes.  In 
one  particular  alone  was  there  any  divergence  from  the 
English  ecclesiastical  system: — many  of  the  ministers 
held  their  livings  at  the  pleasure  of  their  vestries, 
instead  of  enjoying,  as  in  the  Mother  Country,  a  free- 
hold, But  this  difference  had  its  origin  in  practical 
considerations.  In  Virginia,  all  the  benefices  were 
filled  by  the  vestries,  and,  not  as  in  England,  by  pa- 
trons, either  personal  or  scholastic,  who  dictated  the 
nominations  and  could  enforce  their  confirmation. 
The  vestries  very  properly  were  disposed  to  hire  by 
the  year,  and  not  to  induct  permanently,  because  the 
ministers,  being  imported  from  England,  were  not,  be- 
fore they  presented  themselves  as  candidates,  known 
in  Virginia,  either  personally,  or  by  general  reputation. 
Prudence  suggested  a  trial  until  their  merits  should  be 
fully  tested;  and  experience  also  proved  that  a  clergy- 
man dependent  upon  the  good-will  of  his  congregation 
was  apt  to  be  more  assiduous  and  faithful  than  one 
who  was  not. 

However  ardently  the  people  of  Virginia  in  the  Seven- 
teenth century  might  have  wished  to  introduce  into  the 
Colony  the  general  system  of  education  prevailing  in 
the  Mother  Country,  there  were  numerous  obstacles 
in  the  way  of  the  complete  realization  of  their  desire. 
The  first  of  these  was  purely  physical;  but  it  was  for 
that  very  reason  all  the  more  powerful  in  its  influence. 
One  of  the  principal  consequences,  as  we  have  seen, 
of  the  large  plantation  system  was  the  dispersion  of 
the  inhabitants  over  an  extent  of  surface  far  out  of 
proportion  to  their  number.     There  were  no  centres 


620  Political  Condition 

of  population,  as  in  New  England,  where  the  tendency 
of  the  people,  from  the  beginning,  was  to  congregate 
in  towns  and  villages,  thus  making  it  practicable  to 
establish  schools  in  reach  of  every  child.  In  Virginia,  on 
the  other  hand,  the  population  residing  not  far  away 
from  each  schoolhouse  was  generally  small;  and  the 
majority  of  the  scholars  were  only  able  to  attend  by 
walking  or  riding  a  great  distance,  and  by  defying  the 
vicissitudes  of  all  sorts  of  weather.  Nevertheless,  in 
spite  of  these  drawbacks,  there  are  indications  that 
every  neighborhood  in  the  older  divisions  of  the  Colony 
was  in  the  possession  of  one  private  school  at  least. 
Sometimes,  as  we  have  seen,  the  schoolhouse  was  situ- 
ated in  an  old  field  at  some  central  point  where  it 
could  be  most  easily  reached  by  all  the  pupils  of  the 
surrounding  country;  sometimes,  in  a  private  residence, 
where  the  teacher  was  employed  to  instruct,  not  only 
the  children  of  the  owner,  but  also  the  children  of  the 
nearest  planters.  This  teacher  was  just  as  frequently 
the  clergyman  of  the  parish  (a  man  who  had  enjoyed 
the  best  education  the  age  could  offer) ,  as  a  pedagogue 
obtaining  a  subsistence  by  giving  up  his  whole  life  to 
this  one  occupation.  In  many  families,  there  were 
tutors,  whose  entire  attention  was  confined  to  the  chil- 
dren of  these  families,  and  who  were  able  to  impart 
as  thorough  instruction  as  could,  in  those  times,  be 
secured  outside  of  the  walls  of  the  English  colleges. 
Not  a  few  of  the  young  Virginians  were  sent  to  England 
to  acquire  their  education. 

As  has  been  pointed  out  already,  nearly  all  the  lead- 
ing Virginians  of  the  Seventeenth  century  had  been 
born  and  educated  in  England,  and  it  was  only  natural 
that,  after  settling  in  the  Colony,  they  should  have 
retained  their  appreciation  of  all  these  early  advantages 


Conclusion  621 

of  instruction,  and  that  they  should  have  made  a 
determined  attempt  to  afford  their  children  every 
facility  of  the  same  kind  which  could  be  created  in 
that  remote  part  of  the  world.  It  is  not  improbable 
that  the  very  absence  of  a  great  circle  of  free  grammar 
schools  resembling  those  they  had  been  accustomed  to 
in  the  Mother  Country,  led  them  to  be  the  more  so- 
licitous to  encourage  in  their  new  community  the  estab- 
lishment of  private  schools.  But  this  attitude  on 
their  part  did  not  prevent  the  exhibition,  from  an 
early  date,  of  a  desire  on  the  part  of  both  wealthy  in- 
dividuals and  public  bodies  to  set  up  in  Virginia 
institutions  modelled  on  the  English  free  foundations. 
Benjamin  Symmes  offered  an  example  to  his  fellow- 
planters  which  was  soon  followed  by  Thomas  Eaton 
and  others  of  equal  benevolence  and  public  spirit.  In 
1660,  as  we  have  seen,  the  General  Assembly  took 
steps  to  erect  a  College  that  would  afford  to  all  an 
opportunity  for  acquiring  an  advanced  education; 
and  before  the  century  had  ended,  the  corner  stone  of 
William  and  Mary  had  been  laid. 

In  proportion  to  the  number  of  persons  who,  in  the 
Seventeenth  century,  constituted  the  higher  planting 
class  of  Virginia,  the  collections  of  books  existing  in 
the  Colony  were  apparently  neither  smaller  in  size, 
nor  less  choice  in  contents,  than  those  found  in  the 
rural  homes  of  England  during  the  same  period.  We 
have  seen  that  these  collections  not  only,  in  many 
instances,  embraced  several  hundred  volumes,  but 
also  covered  a  great  variety  of  subjects;  and  not  infre- 
quently included  the  principal  Latin  classics.  In  many 
ways,  a  life  like  that  of  the  plantation,  so  remote  from 
the  English  centres  of  culture  and  learning,  was  dis- 
couraging to  literary  tastes  and  interests;  but  in  some 


622  Political  Condition 

ways,  it  was  promotive  of  such  interests  and  tastes; 
for  the  comparative  paucity  of  amusements  must  have 
led  many  persons  to  turn  to  the  books  they  possessed 
for  pastime  in  an  hour  of  leisure;  and  by  constant  re- 
reading, they  must  have  become  more  familiar  with 
the  spirit  of  these  books  than  if  they  had  had  a  large 
number  of  new  ones  to  peruse.  The  younger  Beverley 
and  the  younger  Byrd  were  both  born,  and  both  re- 
ceived their  first  education,  in  Virginia  before  the  end 
of  the  century,  and  both  show  in  their  writings  that 
capacity  for  composition  which  comes,  not  so  much 
from  the  intuition  of  genius,  as  from  the  study  of  the 
best  English  literary  models. 

It  was  not  to  be  expected  that  the  complicated  and 
diversified  system  of  courts  prevailing  in  England 
would  be  established  in  a  Colony  so  sparse  in  popu- 
lation and  so  limited  in  wealth  as  Virginia  was  in  the 
Seventeenth  century.  There  would  have  been  no 
reason  for  the  erection  of  such  a  variety  of  courts  even 
if  the  funds  for  their  pecuniary  support  had  been  ample, 
since  the  volume  of  business  which  each  would  have 
been  called  upon  to  transact  would  necessarily  have 
been  extremely  small.  Two  courts — the  County  and 
the  General — were,  until  nearly  the  end  of  the  century, 
sufficient  to  settle  all  the  causes  coming  up  in  Vir- 
ginia in  these  early  times.  To  them  was  entrusted 
the  jurisdiction  of  every  one  of  the  English  courts  of 
law;  in  performing  their  different  duties,  the  judges 
of  these  two  courts  took  into  view  that  entire  field 
which,  in  England,  was  divided  between  the  King's 
Bench,  the  Common  Pleas,  the  Exchequer,  Chancery, 
Ecclesiastical,  and  Admiralty  Courts.  Each  of  the 
Virginian  courts  was  all  these  courts  combined.  The 
great  difference  between  the  two  Virginian  courts  was 


Conclusion  623 

that  one  possessed  an  original  jurisdiction,  the  other 
both  an  original  and  an  appellate.  There  was  no  side 
to  their  general  character  which  was  brought  about 
by  the  requirements  of  a  new  country  except  that  they 
were  especially  adapted  to  the  settlement  of  legal 
business  in  the  most  direct  manner;  and  above  all, 
in  the  most  economical.  In  one  way  alone  did  their 
operation  diverge  from  that  of  the  English  courts, 
namely,  in  the  use  of  a  less  formal  and  a  less  rigid 
system  of  procedure.  This  was  the  result  of  two 
causes: — first,  the  judges  of  Virginia  were,  as  a  rule, 
men  who  had  not,  before  ascending  the  bench,  enjoyed 
any  legal  training,  and  consequently  they  were  indis- 
posed to  encourage  a  system  of  pleadings  only  tending 
to  confuse  them  on  account  of  their  ignorance  of  all  le- 
gal forms  except  those  of  the  simplest  nature ;  secondly, 
in  a  new  country,  where  there  were  practically  no  fa- 
cilities for  acquiring  a  thorough  legal  education,  the 
attorneys  were  not  inclined  to  insist  upon  the  necessity 
of  formal  pleadings  because  it  would  have  required 
more  learning  to  practise  law. 

One  of  the  most  characteristic  features  of  these 
early  times  was  the  strictness  with  which  the  various 
legal  regulations  were  enforced.  Not  even  in  the 
Mother  Country  itself  did  the  Law  pursue  a  more  fixed 
and  orderly  course.  This  was  but  one  of  the  numerous 
aspects  of  life  in  Virginia  during  this  century  which 
reveal  how  fully  the  sober  and  conservative  spirit  of 
the  English  people  prevailed  in  the  Colony.  From 
the  establishment  of  the  monthly  court,  during  the 
existence  of  the  Company,  down  to  the  end  of  the 
century,  the  regular  system  of  legal  administration 
was  sustained  by  the  whole  force  of  public  opinion. 
There  was  no  need  for  the  display  of  that  wild  spirit 


y 


624  Political  Condition 

of  justice,  which,  in  our  age,  leads  the  citizens  of  so 
many  American  communities  to  take  the  law  into 
their  own  hands,  and  inflict  a  rude  and  summary 
punishment  for  serious  offences.  There  was  no  occa- 
sion for  the  organization  of  vigilance  committees, 
although  revolting  acts  of  criminality  were  not  un- 
known; the  machinery  of  each  court  performed  its 
work  smoothly  and  promptly;  and  its  supremacy  as 
the  guardian  of  life  and  property,  and  corrector  of 
wrongs,  remained  unquestioned. 

It  was  as  easy  to  introduce  into  Virginia,  in  the  very 
beginning,  the  general  system  of  English  jurisprudence 
as  it  was  the  general  system  of  the  English  Church. 
It  was  declared  in  the  very  first  Charter  that  English 
law  should  be  in  force  in  the  Colony;  and  that  this  law 
was  not  to  be  modified  except  in  those  special  cases  in 
which  the  circumstances  of  a  new  country  required 
the  adoption  of  a  different  rule.  Two  great  features 
alone  of  the  English  law  were  radically  changed  when 
the  body  of  that  law  was  put  in  operation  in  Virginia. 
First,  the  penalty  for  many  offences  which,  in  England, 
were  punished  with  death,  was,  in  the  Colony,  graduated 
to  the  true  character  of  each  act.  A  vigorous  whipping 
was,  in  many  instances,  substituted  for  hanging  as 
more  in  harmony  with  the  suggestions  of  humanity 
and  common- sense.  Even  if  the  charters  had  not 
confined  the  punishment  of  death  to  a  few  heinous 
crimes,  the  influences  springing  from  the  special  con- 
ditions prevailing  in  Virginia,  in  consequence  of  the 
secluded  existence  of  the  people,  would  inevitably 
have  moderated  there  the  terrible  criminal  code  of 
England  of  that  day.  Not  only  were  all  the  neces- 
saries of  life  more  abundant  in  the  Colony  than  in 
the  Mother  Country, — not  only  were  all  personal  and 


Conclusion  625 

property  rights  less  strictly  asserted  and  enforced, — 
but  the  judges  of  Virginia  could  not,  like  the  judges 
of  England,  compromise  with  their  sense  of  humanity 
by  sentencing  to  transportation  convicts  whom  the 
law  required  to  be  hanged  for  some  trivial  offence 
which  they  had  committed.  England  had  the  power 
to  ship  her  criminals  off  to  the  Colonies,  but  the  Col- 
onies, on  the  other  hand,  were  not  in  the  same  position 
to  transfer  their  criminals  from  one  to  another. 

The  second  great  departure  from  the  English  legal 
system  was  the  adoption  of  a  regulation  requiring  the 
public  recordation  of  deeds.  In  England,  all  instru- 
ments of  conveyance  and  the  like  were  preserved  in 
muniment  chests  carefully  stored  away  as  private  prop- 
erty; and  in  consequence  their  contents  were  never 
open  to  public  inspection.  The  establishment  of  public 
record  offices  in  Virginia,  and  the  enforcement  of  laws 
making  recordation  obligatory  to  ensure  the  validity 
of  deeds,  was  an  extraordinary  innovation,  and,  like 
the  graduation  of  punishments  to  the  real  nature  of 
offences,  showed  that  the  conservative  spirit  of  English- 
men, in  these  early  times,  gave  way  to  the  demands 
of  practical  good  sense  as  soon  as  they  were  withdrawn, 
as  in  Virginia,  from  the  sphere  of  customs  having  their 
origin  in  a  remote  past.  The  men  who  emigrated  to 
the  Colony  saw  clearly  enough  in  that  different  situa- 
tion what  were  the  precedents  which  should  be  dis- 
carded. During  that  early  period,  the  planters' 
residences  were  often  frail  and  temporary,  and  exposed 
to  many  vicissitudes  from  fire  and  Indian  attack; 
and  it  was,  doubtless,  recognized  almost  from  the  be- 
ginning that  these  houses  did  not  afford  the  same  se- 
curity for  private  deeds  of  all  kinds  as  the  substantial 
walls  and  roofs  of  English  homes.     This  difference  very 

VOL.  II. — 40. 


626  Political  Condition 

probably  first  suggested  the  erection  of  public  offices, 
where  all  such  papers  might  be  recorded  in  order  that 
the  fact  of  their  existence  should  become  a  matter  of 
universal  notoriety. 

The  military  system  of  Virginia  in  the  Seventeenth 
century,  although  necessarily  operating  within  far 
narrower  bounds  than  that  of  England  during  the  same 
period,  was  nevertheless,  from  some  points  of  view, 
perhaps  the  more  highly  organized  of  the  two.  The 
explanation  of  this  lay  in  the  fact  that  the  fear  of 
Indian  incursions  was  never  allayed  for  any  great 
length  of  time.  The  people  occupying  the  country 
adjacent  to  the  frontier  had  special  reason  to  feel  such 
apprehension,  for,  although  the  tribes  in  their  neigh- 
borhood might  be  friendly  and  tractable,  yet  there 
was  always  a  danger  that  the  tribes  residing  at  a  dis- 
tance might,  without  any  warning,  come  down  on 
them  at  any  hour.  From  the  earliest  years  in  the 
history  of  the  Colony,  marches  against  the  Indian 
towns  occurred  almost  annually.  There  was  hardly 
a  single  able-bodied  citizen  in  the  Colony  who  had  not 
at  one  time  after  his  arrival  at  manhood  had  an  ex- 
perience of  actual  warfare  under  these  stirring  cir- 
cumstances. The  need  of  military  organization  was 
recognized  all  the  more  clearly  because  an  Indian 
attack  was  invariably  accompanied  by  unspeakable 
atrocities,  which  made  the  deepest  impression  upon 
the  memory  and  the  imagination.  That  organization 
was  supported  by  the  popular  voice  with  extraordinary 
unanimity.  Military  service  was  regarded  as  such  an 
imperative  duty  that  its  evasion  was  considered  to  be 
a  crime  against  the  safety  of  the  community.  The 
animosity  aroused  against  the  Quakers  was  largely 
due  to  their  outcry  against  their  own  enrolment  in  the 


Conclusion  627 

militia;  there  was  no  sympathy  whatever  with  the 
peace  doctrine  of  the  sect,  because  it  was  looked  upon 
as  jeopardizing  potentially  the  life  of  every  citizen 
by  exposing  every  neighborhood  to  Indian  assault  with 
a  diminished  power  of  resistance. 

In  the  quiet  and  uneventful  existence  led  by  the 
planters,  it  is  quite  probable  that  the  readiness  to 
perform  military  duty  had  its  origin,  in  some  measure, 
in  the  opportunity  for  change  and  excitement  which 
it  offered.  A  march  against  the  Indians  was,  on  the 
whole,  the  most  stirring  event  in  the  life  of  the  ordinary 
citizen,  because,  in  its  course,  he  was  not  only  exposed 
to  great  personal  danger,  but  also,  in  the  dimness  of  the 
primeval  forests,  haunted  only  by  savages,  beasts, 
and  birds,  he  saw  the  most  romantic  and  impressive 
side  of  Nature.  Moreover,  during  these  expeditions, 
he  was  brought  into  association  with  the  principal 
men  residing  in  his  part  of  Virginia,  on  a  footing  of 
military  comradeship,  the  most  intimate  of  all.  The 
military  life  of  the  Colony  was,  from  year  to  year, 
sterner  and  more  active  than  that  of  the  Mother 
Country,  which,  in  general,  consisted  simply  of  militia 
musters  and  drills,  although  many  soldiers  were  drawn 
away  to  take  part  in  the  campaigns  on  the  Continent. 
If  the  civil  wars  in  England  are  omitted  from  view, 
the  militia  of  Virginia  in  that  age  were  perhaps  en- 
gaged in  more  real  military  operations  than  the  English 
militia;  and  there  was  in  their  organization,  therefore, 
a  more  pressing  need  of  thoroughness  and  efficiency. 

From  one  point  of  view  at  least,  the  persons  com- 
posing the  militia  of  the  Colony  were  better  prepared 
for  military  service  than  the  majority  of  the  con- 
temporary Englishmen.  Not  only  were  the  Virginians 
accustomed  from  youth  to  a  life  spent  almost  entirely 


628  Political  Condition 

in  the  open  air,  which  hardened  them  against  the  brunt 
of  every  kind  of  trying  weather;  not  only  were  they, 
to  an  extraordinary  degree,  trained  in  the  exercises  of 
walking,  running,  and  riding;  but  from  the  very  first 
year  when  they  were  able  to  shoulder  a  gun,  they  had 
been  perfecting  their  aim  in  shooting.  Moreover, 
their  only  foe  was  the  Indian,  and  long  experience  had 
given  them  a  thorough  knowledge  of  the  Indian  arts 
of  warfare,  and  the  most  successful  ways  of  combating 
those  arts.  Whilst  the  English  system  of  drill  was 
taught  in  Virginia,  there  is  reason  to  think  that  a 
special  drill,  designed  to  meet  the  peculiar  tactics  of 
the  savages  in  particular,  was  carefully  taught  in 
addition.  The  details  of  the  system  of  discipline  on 
the  march  were  adopted  substantially  from  the  English 
system;  and  in  the  same  way,  the  general  methods  of 
raising  and  supporting  troops  for  a  special  expedition 
were  of  English  origin.  By  an  Act  of  Parliament 
passed  after  the  Restoration,  every  owner  in  England 
of  personalty  to  the  amount  of  six  thousand  pounds 
sterling,  or  of  land  assuring  an  income  of  at  least  five 
hundred  pounds  sterling  annually,  was  to  provide  and 
equip  a  horseman;  whilst  every  owner  of  six  hundred 
pounds  sterling  in  the  form  of  personalty,  or  of  land 
returning  fifty  pounds  sterling  yearly,  was  to  provide 
and  equip  one  pikeman.  In  Virginia,  on  the  other 
hand,  where  the  volume  of  wealth  was  so  much  smaller, 
the  provisions  of  this  law  were,  whenever  it  was  found 
necessary  to  send  out  an  expedition,  modified  by  im- 
posing, not  upon  one  citizen,  but  upon  a  designated 
group  of  citizens,  the  equipment  and  support  of  the 
single  horseman  or  footman  they  had  chosen  for  the 
duty.  The  plan  of  a  certain  number  of  contiguous 
counties  entering  into  a  military  association  for  the 


Conclusion  629 

accomplishment  of  definite  military  purposes  was 
introduced  from  England.  At  no  time  in  Virginia, 
however,  as  in  the  Mother  Country,  was  there  a  regular 
force  resembling  a  standing  army,  although,  as  we  have 
seen,  the  frontiers  were  often,  for  a  period  of  several 
years,  patrolled  by  small  bodies  of  rangers,  and  the  forts 
occupied  by  small  garrisons. 

The  influence  of  the  Mother  Country  was  especially 
reflected  in  the  political  system  of  Virginia;  indeed 
that  system  had  been  intentionally  patterned  as  closely 
as  possible  upon  the  one  prevailing  in  England.  The 
Governor,  the  head  of  it,  was  the  shadow  of  the  King 
in  every  department  of  the  Colony's  public  affairs; 
as  Commander-in-chief,  as  the  principal  judge  of  the 
highest  court,  and  as  the  local  guardian  of  the  church, 
he  was  in  possession  of  some  of  the  most  important 
delegated  powers  of  the  throne.  In  affairs  strictly 
political,  he  represented  the  monarch,  not  only  in 
the  right  to  preside  on  all  ceremonial  occasions,  but 
also  in  the  right  to  summon  and  dissolve  the  General 
Assembly,  and  to  veto  all  legislative  Acts.  He  was 
supported  by  a  Council  which  bore  the  same  relation 
to  himself  and  the  community  at  large  as  the  English 
Privy  Council  bore  to  the  King  and  the  Kingdom; 
while  the  English  House  of  Lords  had  a  counterpart 
in  this  Council  sitting  in  its  capacity  as  the  Upper 
Chamber  of  the  General  Assembly.  The  Secretary 
of  the  Colony,  the  Attorney-General,  and  the  Treasurer, 
in  their  duties  and  powers,  corresponded  to  the  like 
officers  of  state  in  the  Mother  Country.  The  House 
of  Burgesses,  or  the  Assembly  as  it  was  generally 
known,  was  modelled  in  its  procedure  on  the  lower 
House  of  Parliament ;  and  its  only  departures  from  that 
procedure  were  suggested   by  its   smaller  volume  of 


v/ 


630  Political  Condition 

business.  Its  officers,  its  committees,  the  character 
of  its  Acts,  were  all  practically  the  same.  The  basis 
of  the  suffrage,  however,  down  to  the  Restoration  was 
more  democratic  than  that  of  England;  except  during 
one  short  interval,  the  right  to  vote  was  governed  by 
manhood  alone;  but  after  the  reaction  following  the 
return  of  the  Stuarts  had  set  in,  that  right  was  restricted 
to  freeholders  and  leaseholders;  and  towards  the  end 
of  the  century  was  further  confined  to  freeholders. 
Thus,  as  time  went  on,  the  basis  of  the  suffrage  came 
to  resemble  more  and  more  closely  that  of  the  Mother 
Country;  and  in  doing  so  to  drift  further  and  further 
away  from  the  landmarks  of  democracy. 

In  the  department  of  taxation,  the  people  of  the 
Colony  were,  from  an  early  date,  compelled  to  adopt 
an  independent  system  of  their  own.  During  the 
Seventeenth  century,  the  English  Government  ob- 
tained its  support  from  a  great  variety  of  taxes,  among 
the  most  important  of  which  were  the  poll  tax,  the 
tax  on  the  income  from  land,  the  hearth  tax,  and  the 
like.  There  were  too  the  excise  and  the  customs.  In 
Virginia  also,  there  were  several  kinds  of  import  and 
export  duties,  but  with  the  exception  of  a  short  interval, 
when  land  and  personal  property  were  taxed,  the  poll 
tax  and  the  quit-rent  constituted  the  only  forms  of 
internal  taxation  in  force  there.  Naturally,  as  the 
economic  system  of  the  Colony  was  far  simpler  than 
that  of  the  Mother  Country,  and  its  accumulated  wealth 
far  smaller,  there  was  much  less  room  there  for  a 
variety  of  taxes.  In  spite  of  the  poorer  classes'  com- 
plaint against  it,  and  in  spite  of  emphatic  instructions 
from  London  to  abolish  it,  the  poll  tax  was  continued 
as  the  one  that,  in  the  long  run,  was  the  easiest  for 
the  people  to  bear.     The  opposition  to  it  gradually 


Conclusion  631 

died  out  as  the  volume  of  income  from  the  import  and 
export  duties  increased;  for  this  steadily  reduced  the 
sum  necessary  to  be  levied  by  the  poll. 

The  retention  of  the  poll  tax  was  justified  by  the 
conditions  prevailing  in  Virginia.  The  land  was 
already  required  to  pay  a  considerable  sum  in  the  form 
of  the  quit-rent.  If  the  surface  of  the  Colony  had  been 
tilled  as  thoroughly  and  extensively  as  that  of  England, 
an  additional  land  tax  would  not  have  been  inequitable ; 
but  the  greater  part  even  of  the  settled  divisions  of  the 
country  was  still  in  forest,  and  the  cultivated  area  was 
entirely  out  of  proportion  to  the  uncultivated.  In 
taxing  the  tithable,  the  authorities  taxed  what  really 
represented  the  actual  productiveness  of  the  Colony 
as  distinguished  from  its  potential  productiveness, 
which  was  without  any  definite  limit.  The  produc- 
tiveness of  each  plantation  was  in  proportion,  not  to 
the  number  of  its  acres,  but  to  the  number  of  tithables 
engaged  in  working  it.  The  poll  tax  enabled  the 
Colonial  Government  to  obtain  a  revenue  in  exact 
proportion  to  the  Colony's  volume  of  production; 
nor  was  it  the  less  fair  because,  being  a  tax  on  a  sliding 
scale,  it  was  capable  of  being  easily  increased  in  order 
to  meet  the  costs  of  an  extravagant  administration 
of  public  affairs,  whether  local  or  central. 

From  an  early  period,  the  people  of  Virginia  through 
their  General  Assembly  asserted  the  principle  (which 
was  to  lead  to  such  memorable  consequences  in  the 
next  century),  that  no  tax  could  be  rightly  laid  on 
them  without  their  consent.  The  germ  of  this  princi- 
ple was  to  be  discovered  in  the  Charter  of  1606,  a  docu- 
ment that  conferred  on  the  inhabitants  of  the  Colony 
all  the  privileges  and  immunities  enjoyed  by  the  sub- 
jects of  the  King  in  England.     So  far  as  taxation  was 


632  Political  Condition 

imposed  by  the  General  Assembly  itself,  that  body 
in  adopting  a  measure  of  this  kind  was  much  more 
representative  of  the  people  of  Virginia  than  the  Parlia- 
ment of  that  day  was  of  the  people  of  England.  Whilst 
the  great  English  manufacturing  cities  of  the  Eigh- 
teenth century  had,  in  the  Seventeenth,  only  begun 
to  become  important,  nevertheless  the  inequalities  of 
local  representation  in  the  House  of  Commons  were 
almost  as  marked  an  hundred  years  earlier  as  it  was 
when  Chatham  was  largely  prompted  to  support  the 
American  Cause  by  the  fact  that  it  was  identical  in 
principle  with  the  Cause  of  those  growing  English 
towns  which  were  taxed  by  Parliament  without  their 
having  any  voice  in  its  deliberations  and  decisions. 
No  such  condition  as  this  existed  in  Virginia;  every 
community  in  the  Colony  was  represented  directly 
in  the  House  of  Burgesses;  and,  therefore,  every  com- 
munity, through  its  member,  participated  in  the  passage 
or  defeat  of  a  tax  bill.  The  General  Assembly  was, 
from  the  very  beginning,  an  exact  counterpart  of  what 
all  assemblies  in  English-speaking  countries  are  to-day, 
that  is  to  say,  bodies,  which,  in  imposing  taxes,  impose 
them  as  representatives,  not  of  general  classes  of  in- 
terests, like  the  Parliament  of  1764,  but  of  local  con- 
stituencies created  by  a  uniform  and  general  law  of 
suffrage.  It  was  not  until  1832  that  the  English 
House  of  Commons  became  what  the  House  of  Bur- 
gesses in  Virginia  had  been  as  early  as  16 19,  a  body  in 
which  the  whole  population  was  represented  when  a 
tax  bill  was  adopted,  a  body  in  which  every  community 
carried  its  justly  proportionate  weight  in  the  passage 
of  such  a  measure.  In  denying  the  right  of  the  Eng- 
lish Government  to  impose  any  tax  on  them  without 
their  consent,  the  Virginians  of  the  Seventeenth  cen- 


Conclusion  633 

tury  proclaimed  a  doctrine  which  England  was,  in  the 
Nineteenth,  forced  to  accept  as  the  only  condition  of 
retaining  her  Colonial  Empire. 

In  summarizing  the  particulars  in  which  the  general- 
system  of  Virginia  diverged  from  that  of  England 
in  the  Seventeenth  century,  they  are  found  to  be  few 
in  number,  and  not,  in  every  instance,  of  great  im- 
portance in  their  influence.  They  consisted,  first,  of 
the  extensive,  as  opposed  to  the  intensive,  methods 
of  cultivation,  methods  encouraged  by  the  abundance 
of  virgin  lands,  but  productive  of  an  air  of  neglect  in 
sad  contrast  with  that  appearance  of  neatness,  trim- 
ness,  and  thorough  tillage  which  gave  the  face  of  the 
Mother  Country  the  aspect  of  a  beautiful  garden  on 
a  great  scale;  secondly,  of  the  presence  of  the  African 
slave,  who,  whilst  he  fostered  in  the  dominant  class  a 
love  of  liberty  and  an  aristocratic  spirit,  was,  never-  y 
theless,  in  himself  and  in  his  permanent  bondage,  in- 
congruous with  the  genius  of  English  institutions; 
thirdly,  of  the  practical  absence  of  the  law  of  primo- 
geniture, owing  to  the  fact  that,  in  these  early  times, 
the  younger  children's  only  prospect  of  support  lay 
in  inheriting  some  portion  of  their  father's  landed 
estate,  virtually  the  only  form  of  property  then  existing 
in  the  Colony,  and  the  only  means  by  which  a  liveli- 
hood could  be  easily  secured;  fourthly,  of  the  custom 
of  hiring  clergymen  by  the  year,  and  during  good 
behavior,  instead  of  giving  them  a  permanent  free- 
hold interest  in  their  livings  by  the  ceremony  of  in- 
duction; fifthly,  of  the  smallness  in  the  number  of 
free  grammar  schools,  in  consequence  of  the  com- 
paratively limited  accumulation  of  wealth;  sixthly, 
of  the  recordation  of  deeds  instead  of  the  preservation 
of  all  muniments  of  title  in  private  receptacles  closed 


634  Political  Condition 

to  public  examination;  seventhly,  of  a  less  complicated 
system  of  courts  and  a  simpler  legal  procedure  in  the 
course  of  trials;  eighthly,  of  a  system  of  military  tac- 
tics, adapted  to  a  running  fight  in  thick  forests,  and  with 
a  furtive  and  treacherous  enemy ;  ninthly,  of  a  suffrage 
which  at  first  rested  upon  manhood  alone;  tenthly,  of 
an  Assembly  that  represented,  not  only  all  classes,  like 
the  English  Parliament,  but  also  every  individual  person 
belonging  to  the  several  constituencies;  and  finally,  of 
a  legislative  body,  whose  members,  unlike  those  sitting 
at  St.  Stephen's,  received  a  pecuniary  remuneration  for 
the  special  services  they  performed. 

These  divergencies  did  not  seriously  diminish  the 
intensity  of  the  English  spirit  animating  the  whole 
community  in  every  branch  of  its  interests,  and  every 
citizen  on  every  side  of  his  character.  In  her  social 
life,  in  her  religious  doctrines,  and  in  her  political 
sentiment, — the  points  in  which  she  might  have  been 
expected  to  diverge  furthest, — Virginia  most  closely 
approached  the  system  of  the  Mother  Country;  and  so 
she  continued  to  do  until  that  momentous  controversy 
arose  which  resulted  in  the  destruction  of  the  political 
bonds  uniting  her  people  to  the  British  dominion. 
But  not  even  the  Revolution  could  efface  on  our 
Continent  the  mighty  work  which  England  had  done 
through  the  growth  of  Virginia,  and  the  other  Amer- 
ican communities,  however  far,  even  in  Colonial  times, 
some  of  the  latter  may,  in  many  respects,  have  drifted 
from  the  distinctive  landmarks  of  the  Mother  Country. 
Her  general  principles  of  law  and  government,  her 
doctrines  of  the  reformed  religion,  her  standards  of 
morality,  her  canons  of  literary  taste,  and  her  practical 
and  conservative  spirit,  had  been  too  deeply  stamped 
upon  all  these  communities  for  a  political  revolution 


Conclusion  635 

to  dimmish  their  influence,  especially  when  this  revo- 
lution was  a  revolt  against  the  Mother  Country's 
departure  from  the  genius  of  her  own  institutions, 
with  which  she  had  so  thoroughly  imbued  her  trans- 
planted children.  American  independence  has  really 
led  to  the  most  glorious  of  all  England's  triumphs. 
Had  the  States  of  the  Union  remained  a  group  of 
English  colonies  they  would  to-day  have  been  in- 
habited almost  entirely  by  persons  of  English  descent 
alone.  But  as  a  separate  nationality,  the  United  States 
has  drawn  a  very  large  proportion  of  its  citizens  from 
the  various  countries  situated  on  the  European  con- 
tinent and  differing  very  radically  in  the  characters 
of  their  peoples.  Transferred  to  America,  these  emi- 
grants were  destined  to  see  their  children  grow  up 
almost  as  deeply  affected  by  the  spirit  of  the  funda- 
mental institutions  of  England,  as  represented  in  the 
general  framework  of  the  American  system,  as  if  they 
were  of  the  purest  Anglo-Saxon  stock;  and  in  the 
third  generation,  the  descendants  of  these  foreigners 
are  quite  indistinguishable  from  persons  of  an  unmixed 
English  strain.  Germans,  Italians,  Russians,  Swiss, 
Dutchmen,  Hungarians,  Scandinavians, — all  are  sub- 
jected to  the  same  moulding  touch,  with  substantially 
in  time  the  same  result;  so  that  England,  through  the 
work  of  those  who  planted  her  first  permanent  colony 
at  Jamestown,  has  been  able  to  shape  the  general 
sentiments  of  millions  of  human  beings  who,  had  they 
remained  in  the  land  of  their  fathers,  would  have  re- 
jected her  national  principles  and  ideas  with  a  feeling 
of  indifference,  if  not  of  positive  aversion. 

If  to-morrow  a  vast  wave  from  the  Atlantic,  set  in 
motion  by  some  appalling  convulsion  of  nature, 
should  sink  England  for  ever  below  the  level  of  the 


636  Political  Condition 

ocean,  and  thus  destroy  the  last  remnant  of  her  popu- 
lation and  the  last  vestige  of  her  cities  and  her  fields, 
yet  in  her  spirit,  which  represents  all  that  is  highest 
in  nations  as  in  individual  men,  she  would  still  survive 
in  that  great  Power  oversea,  whose  seed  she  planted, 
whose  growth  she  nourished,  and  whose  chief  claim 
to  the  respect  of  mankind  will  always  consist  in  up- 
holding those  general  ideas  of  law,  government,  and 
morality,  which  its  people  inherited  from  that  little 
island  lying  like  an  emerald  in  the  stormy  seas  of  the 
North.  From  this  point  of  view,  the  foundation  of 
Jamestown  becomes  the  greatest  of  all  events  in  the 
modern  history  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race,  and  one  of 
the  very  greatest  in  the  history  of  the  world.  From 
this  point  of  view  also  the  conditions  prevailing  in 
colonial  Virginia, — the  foremost  and  most  powerful  of 
all  the  English  dependencies  of  that  day,  and  the  one 
which  adopted  the  English  principles  and  ideas  most 
thoroughly,  and  was  most  successful  in  disseminating 
them, — becomes  of  supreme  interest;  for  from  these 
conditions  was  to  spring  the  characteristic  spirit  of 
one  of  the  greatest  of  modern  nationalities;  and  from 
these  conditions  was  to  arise  a  permanent  guarantee 
that,  whatever  might  be  the  fate  of  England  herself, 
the  Anglo-Saxon  conception  of  social  order,  political 
freedom,  individual  liberty,  and  private  morality, 
should  not  perish  from  the  face  of  the  earth. 


INDEX 


Abbott,  John,  i,  340,  341 

Abigail,  ship,  i,  347;  ii,  129 

Abingdon,  i,  358 

Accomac  county,  i,  Sabbath 
observance  in,  35;  bastardy 
in,  47,  49;  warrant  of  distraint 
in,  91;  inhabitants  of,  com- 
plain, 102;  new  church  in, 
104;  a  parsonage  in,  170,  171; 
Quakers  indicted  in,  241; 
hatred  of  Papists  in,  270; 
indictments  for  blasphemy 
in,  277;  stroking  the  dead  in, 
289;  testamentary  provisions 
for  education  in,  296,  297; 
tuition  of  orphans  in,  310; 
private  tutors  in,  329,  330; 
capping  verses  in,  404;  owners 
of  books  in,  407,  409,  430, 
432;  first  monthly  court  held 
in,  485;  its  court  terms, 
520,  521;  its  court-house, 
537.  538;  brick-making  in, 
538;  the  King's  attorney  in, 
570;  Grand  Jury  presented 
in,  571;  its  justices  rebuke 
a  lawyer,  578;  its  leading 
lawyers,  579;  provost  marshal 
of,  594;  Governor  chooses 
sheriff  of,  595;  sheriffs  of, 
601;  use  of  the  lash  in,  623, 
624,  625;  whipping-post  in, 
626;  stocks  in,  627;  ducking 
in,  629;  how  slanders  punished 
in,  631;  jail  in,  644;  criminal 
trials  in,  671;  Oyer  and  Ter- 
miner trials  in,  673;  rape  com- 
mitted in,  679;  ii,  military 
quota  required  of,  in  1686,  1 1 ; 
militia  reviewed  by  Nichol- 
son, 29;  reports  of  militia 
officers  of,  38;  militiamen  in, 
fined,  66;  fort  to  be  built  in, 


103;  pirates  in  waters  of,  207; 
sets  a  watch  against  pirates, 
214,  215;   when  formed,  294; 
where     grievances     presented 
in,   481;  tax  collected  in,  by 
sheriff,  570,  572;  quitrents  of, 
farmed    out,     578;    value    of 
quitrents  in,  579 
Acton,  Lord,  i,  118 
Adam  and  Eve,  ship,  ii,  447 
Addison,  John,  ii,  102 
Adkins,  John,  ii,  444 
Admiralty     Court,     i,     county 
court  serves  as  first,  697-700; 
when  first  proposed,  700,  701; 
when  established,  702;   juris- 
diction of,  704 
Adultery,  i,  48,  81,  621,  629 
Adventure,  ship,  ii,  225 
Albretton,  Richard,  i,  302 
Aldred,  John,  ii,  186,  187,  211 
Alexander,  Rev.,  John,  i,  200 
Alexander,  ship,  i,  406;  ii,  211 
Alford,  Mrs.,  ii,  571 
Alford,  Rev.  George,  i,  172 
Allamby,  Thomas,  i,  439 
Allan,  Arthur,  i,  448,  449,  487, 

506,  599;  ii,  554,  555 
Allen,  Richard,  ii,  26;  Thomas, 

180 
Allen,  William,  i,  437 
Allerton,  Isaac,  i,  269,  601,  630, 
673;  ii,  24,  108,  167,  365,  371, 

379 
Allerton,  Willoughby,  i,  583;  ii, 

25 
Alvis,  Alice,  i,  313 
Alworth,  William,  i,  602 
Ambrose,  Alice,  i,  227,  240 
Amry,  Charles,  ii,  554 
Anderson,  i,  Rev.  Charles,  200; 

Teague,  602 
Anderson,  David,  ii,  26 


637 


638 


Index 


Andrews,  i,  Anne,  311;   James, 

428;  William,  505 
Andros,  Governor,  i,  Thanks- 
giving Proclamation  of,  16, 
17;  presents  plate  to  Bruton 
church,  hi;  impowered  to 
collate  to  benefices,  131 ;  clergy- 
memorialize,  141,  155;  seeks 
to  increase  clerical  salaries, 
157;  refers  to  colonists'  fi- 
delity to  the  churchy  218; 
college  trustees  complain  to, 
395;  apologizes  for  papers 
sent  to  England,  403;  refers 
to  fire  in  State-House,  549; 
reports  seizure  of  vessel,  701; 
names  advocate  for  Admiralty 
Court,  702 ;  his  instructions  as 
to  chancery  courts,  706;  ii, 
enumerates  the  Indian  popula- 
tion in  1697,  76;  seeks  to  re- 
store Jamestown  Fort,  170; 
criticised  by  Blair,  171;  hires 
guard  sloops,  185;  visits  Mary- 
land, 309;  inaugurated  Gov- 
ernor, 313,  314;  announces 
appointment  of  Heyman  as 
Deputy  Postmaster-General, 
325;  failed  to  induce  the  Bur- 
gesses to  build  a  governor's  re- 
sidence, 338;  his  instructions 
fix  the  number  of  Councillors 
composing  the  quorum,  373; 
announces  to  the  English  Gov- 
ernment the  destruction  of  the 
State  House,  458;  nominates 
a  messenger  for  the  Assembly, 
475;  Board  of  Trade  write  to, 
511;  instructed  to  abolish  the 
poll  tax,  546;  requires  York 
county  judges  to  meet  in 
December,  560;  disburses  quit- 
rents,  580 
Annapolis,  ii,  214 
Anne,  Queen,  ii,  299 
Appomattox  Indians,  ii,  288 
Appomattox  Parish,  i,  no 
Appomattox   River,    i,    363;    ii, 

100,  288, 
Archer,  Gabriel,  i,  648-650,  652; 

ii,  303,  404 
Archer,   i,  James  439;  William, 

415 
Archer's  Hope,  i,  629;  ii,  33 
Archer's  Hope  Creek,  ii,  563 


Argoll,  Governor,  i,  Sabbath 
observance  in  time  of,  28; 
petitions  Archbishop  of  Can- 
terbury, 198;  sentences  Brew- 
ster, 464;  enforces  martial 
laws,  473,  474;  appoints  a 
provost  marshal,  592;  exe- 
cutions in  time  of,  616;  ii, 
forbids  waste  of  powder,  31; 
citizen  of  Bermuda  Hundreds, 
289;  leaves  Virginia,  304; 
character  of  his  administra- 
tion, 317;  enlarges  the  Gover- 
nor's House,  335 

Arlington,  Lord,  i,  124,  215;  ii, 
146,  148,  179,  265,  281,    576 

Armiger,  William,  i,  654 

Armistead,     Anthony,     ii,     25, 

444>  513 

Armistead,  John,  i,  269,  270; 
ii,  166,  167,  365,  371 

Armistead,  William,  i,  601 

Armor,  ii,  32,  33 

Arms,  ii,  30  et  seq.,  46  et  seq.,  92, 
131,  136,  138,  147 

Arrington,  Ann,  i,  671 

Arrington,  William,  ii,  444 

Arundell,  Earl  of,  ii,  269 

Ashall,  George,  i,  301 

Ashton,  i,  John,  329,  455;  Grace, 
455;  Peter,  535 

Ashwell,  George,  i,  327 

Assembly,  Acts  of,  i,  to  provide 
for  fast  days,  15-18;  to  ensure 
Sabbath  observance,  28,  29, 
35;  to  repress  drunkenness, 
38,  39;  to  punish  profanity, 
and.  bastardy,  42,  50;  to  erect 
parishes,  58;  to  choose  vestry- 
men, 66,  74;  to  supplement 
vestry,  76;  to  require  election 
of  churchwardens,  79,  80;  to 
create  regulations  to  govern 
churchwardens,  81,  82;  to 
require  meeting  of  clergymen 
and  churchwardens,  91;  to 
control  religious  meetings,  98; 
to  relieve  people  of  Chippoak 
of  the  payment  of  taxes,  100; 
to  compel  contributions  for 
the  erection  of  parish  churches, 
101;  to  require  each  church  to 
purchase  plate  and  sacred 
volumes,  112;  to  prescribe 
width   of   highways,    114;    to 


Index 


639 


Assembly,  Acts  of — Continued 
reimburse  newly  arrived  cler- 
gymen 121 ;  to  establish  a 
college,  122;  to  prescribe 
clergymen's  testimonials,  126; 
to  confer  on  the  Governor 
the  power  to  induct  clergy- 
men, 131;  to  authorize  vestry 
to  choose  their  minister,  132; 
to  ensure  payment  of  minis- 
ter's salary,  146-149;  to  ex- 
empt clergy  from  taxation, 
150;  to  place  a  tax  on  ex- 
ported skins^  156;  to  fix 
amount  of  minister's  salary, 
157;  to  define  area  of  Ches- 
kiack  glebe,  164;  to  require 
keeping  of  registry  books, 
186;  to  require  children  to  be 
catechized,  187;  to  secure 
readers  for  vacant  churches, 
189;  to  prevent  free  living 
among  clergymen,  204;  to 
preserve  Anglican  doctrine 
and  ceremony,  215,  217,  218; 
to  repress  Quakers,  230,  238; 
to  remove  newly  arrived 
Quakers,  239;  to  preserve 
church  unity,  254;  to  exclude 
Papists  from  office,  266;  to 
punish  blasphemous  soldiers, 
276;  to  punish  blasphemy, 
277;  to  discourage  charges  of 
witch-craft,  281;  to  regulate 
cost  of  orphans'  education, 
309;  to  lay  off  towns,  336;  to 
enforce  provisions  of  Sym- 
mes's  will,  352;  to  choose 
site  of  William  and  Mary 
College,  373;  to  found  a  col- 
lege in  1661,  375,  376;  to  per- 
mit trial  by  jury,  467;  effect 
of,  when  repugnant  to  Eng- 
lish law,  469-472;  part  of 
Colony's  governing  regula- 
tions in  1619,  472,  474;  to 
create  a  court  in  Bristol 
Parish,  482;  to  provide  for 
monthly  courts  in  remote 
places^  485;  to  fix  number 
of  justices,  493;  to  impower 
Councillors  to  sit  in  county 
courts,  497;  to  enumerate 
judges  of  county  courts,  503; 
to  prescribe  terms  of  county 


courts,  516;  to  require  special 
terms  of  court,  519;  to  require 
justices  to  attend  court,  522; 
to  authorize  the  purchase  of 
land  for  a  port  at  Yorktown, 
529;  to  define  limit  of  county 
court's  final  adjudication,  540, 
541;  to  confirm  right  of  trial 
by  jury,  551,  552;  supplied  by 
clerk  of  Assembly  to  county 
courts,  558,  559;  to  reduce 
number  of  attorneys,  561;  to 
do  away  with  paid  attorneys, 
562;  to  prohibit  payment 
of  fees  for  legal  services,  564; 
to  exclude  unlicensed  attor- 
neys, 567;  to  prescribe  rights 
and  fees  of  clerks,  590;  to 
govern  selection  of  sheriff, 
595;  to  require  sheriff  to 
be  member  of  county  court, 
596;  to  permit  sheriff  to 
charge  certain  fees,  600;  to 
require  erection  of  stocks,  628; 
to  require  erection  of  ducking 
stools,  630;  to  compel  the 
counties  to  build  jails,  633- 
635;  to  fix  terms  of  General 
Court,  657;  to  particularize 
the  General  Court,  as  the 
highest  court,  659;  to  allow 
writ  of  dedimus,  669;  to 
prescribe  right  of  appeal  to 
General  Court,  685,  686;  ii, 
to  compel  military  service, 
5;  to  prescribe  the  duties  of 
commanders,  15,  16,  18,  19; 
to  order  the  erection  of  stores, 
18;  to  stop  waste  of  powder, 
32;  to  supply  militia  with 
munitions,  37;  to  require 
smiths  to  keep  accounts,  58; 
to  increase  militia  fines,  66; 
to  appoint  days  for  drill,  67; 
to  build  ports,  in  1645,  100; 
in  1676,  102;  to  authorize 
muster  of  the  Rangers,  116; 
to  instruct  the  officers  of  the 
Rangers,  117,  118;  to  continue 
the  Rangers  in  service,  120; 
copies  of,  sent  to  Privy  Coun- 
cil about  1630,  268;  copies  of, 
amended  by  Culpeper,  327, 
328;  to  provide  support  for 
Governor,   344,  345;  to   pre- 


640 


Index 


Assembly,  Acts  of — Continued 
scribe  requisite  of  office-hold- 
ing, 366;  to  impower  Governor 
and  Council  to  lay  a  tax,  375; 
to  require  the  Councillors  to 
pay  the  usual  taxes  in  1645, 
380;  to  fix  the  salary  of 
Councillors,  382;  to  prescribe 
powers  of  the  Secretary  of 
State,  398;  to  impower  Sec- 
retary to  occupy  a  room  in 
the  State-House,  402;  to 
require  the  writ  of  elec- 
tion to  be  published,  408; 
to  qualify  the  suffrage,  410- 
416;  to  require  each  county 
to  defray  its  Burgesses'  ex- 
penses, 436;  to  exempt  Bur- 
gesses from  arrest  within 
a  stated  time,  445,  446;  be- 
came laws  at  once,  503,  504; 
transmitted  to  England  for 
approval,  505;  revision  of, 
508-514;  published  in  differ- 
ent parts  of  the  Colony,  513; 
to  prohibit  taxation  without 
consent  of  the  Assembly,  524; 
to  divide  each  county  into 
tax  precincts,  551;  to  remedy 
abuses,  559;  to  impower  com- 
missioners to  collect  taxes,  571; 
to  elect  a  treasurer,  604 

Assembly,  General,  i,  parish 
bounds  had  to  be  approved 
by.  55;  a  long  sitting  of,  67; 
an  appeal  to,  about  high 
taxes,  76;  appeals  to  the  King 
to  send  clergymen  to  Vir- 
ginia, 123;  instructed  to  fix 
the  salaries  of  ministers,  156; 
liberality  of,  towards  minis- 
ters, 159;  fees  for  prayers  and 
sermons  delivered  before,  161 ; 
presents  Rev.  Mr.  Higby  with 
land,  178;  honors  Rev.  Philip 
Mallory,  201;  imposes  fines 
on  account  of  Quakers,  230; 
seeks  to  enforce  uniformity, 
253;  suffers  each  school  mas- 
ter to  make  his  own  contract, 
342;  character  of,  after  Res- 
toration, 377,  378;  petitions 
the  throne  about  College 
of  William  and  Mary,  384; 
appropriates  money  to  meet 


Blair's  expenses  in  England, 
385;  memorial  to  English 
Government  about  the  Col- 
lege, 387,  388;  discourages 
further  appropriations  to 
College,  395;  orders  Buckner 
to  print  the  Acts,  402; 
literacy  of,  in  1624,  448; 
Declaration  of,  in  1651,  466; 
requires  adherence  to  English 
law,  466;  Acts  passed  by, 
in  1619,  475;  the  sessions  of 
1619,  478;  extends  jurisdic- 
tion of  magistrates,  479; 
condemns  remuneration  of 
county  judges,  504;  protests 
against  licensing  lawyers,  568; 
right  of  appeal,  647,  684,  690; 
right  of  appeal  to,  modified, 
693,  695,  696;  ii,  admits 
white  servants  to  military 
service,  5;  rebukes  military 
officers,  12;  military  orders  of, 
carried  out  by  members  of 
county  court,  20;  right  of, 
to  suspend  ^  militia  commis- 
sioner, 21;  information  to  be 
given,  about  the  assessment 
for  munitions,  36:  appro- 
priates money  to  reimburse 
Berkeley,  37;  encourages 
smiths,  59;  formulates  a  mili- 
tary code,  69;  policy  of,  about 
the  Indians,  73,  81,  82,  87, 
93;  discourages  reports  about 
Indian  uprisings,  95;  orders 
the  building  of  stockades,  97; 
suggests  a  palisade  for  the 
Peninsula,  98;  provides  for 
new  forts,  102;  authorizes 
impressment  in  an  Indian 
incursion,  116;  impowers  the 
continuation  of  the  corps  of 
Rangers,  119,  120;  interested 
in  the  restoration  of  the 
fort  at  Point  Comfort,  136- 
138,  140,  142;  authorizes 
Berkeley  to  build  a  fort  at 
Jamestown,  145;  sustains 
Berkeley  in  opposing  construc- 
tion of  new  fort  at  Point 
Comfort,  149;  orders  the 
building  of  five  forts,  150; 
decides  not  to  complete  fort 
at    Point    Comfort,    151;    ap- 


Index 


641 


Assembly,  General — Continued 
propriates  money  for  erection 
of  forts,  155;  complains  of 
the  cost  of  the  fort  at  Point 
Comfort,  161;  petitioned  for 
redress,  166;  first  Assembly 
meets,  246 ;  of  whom  composed, 
249;  a  necessity  after  charter 
was  recalled,  258;  opposes  re- 
vival of  the  Company's  char- 
ter, 261 ;  supports  the  King  in 
the  civil  contentions,  274,  275, 
281;  loyalty  of,  throughout 
the  century,  281;  why  mem- 
bers of ,  called  Burgesses,  291; 
orders  by,  for  a  division  of 
counties,  295,  296;  confirms 
restoration  of  Berkeley  to 
governorship,  302;  protests 
against  the  limitation  of  the 
Governor's  term,  310;  Gov- 
ernor's Instructions  were  at 
first  disclosed  to,  319;  called 
together  by  the  Governor, 
320;  accounts  of  expenditures 
submitted  to,  by  Andros, 
325;  dissolved  by  the  Gover- 
nor, 326;  Governor  trans- 
mitted to  England  copies  of 
Acts  of,  330;  compliant  to 
Berkeley's  wishes,  348;  grants 
a  body-guard  to  Wyatt,  352; 
refuses  to  accept  the  King's 
offer  about  the  tobacco,  356; 
appoints  Councillors  in  time 
of  Commonwealth,  370;  re- 
reforms  abuses  under  Bacon's 
guidance,  377;  relieves  the 
Councillors  of  taxes,  380; 
requires  Councillors  to  reside 
in  Colony,  382;  compels 
Councillors  to  pay  taxes,  383; 
first  Assembly  meets  in  1619, 
405;  its  composition,  406; 
condemns  the  tumultuousness 
of  elections,  420;  allows  the 
counties  to  fix  the  number 
of  members  of  the  House, 
429;  frequency  of  sessions  of, 
431-434;  takes  steps  to  build 
a  State-House,  450-461;  griev- 
ances presented  to,  480; 
broken  up  by  an  epidemic,  488 ; 
in  1660,  all  writs  were  issued 
in  name  of,  491;  subserviency 
VOL.  n — 41 


of  the  Long  Assembly,  491- 
494;  composition  of,  500; 
spirit  of,  502;  copies  of  Acts 
sent  to  England  within 
three  months  after  adjourn- 
ment of,  505;  revised  acts  of, 
508-514;  counties  allowed  by, 
to  pass  by-laws,  515-518; 
appoints  agents  in  England, 
519-521;  sends  special  envoy 
to  London,  521;  instructions 
to  Jeffrey  Jeffreys,  532;  ex- 
empts certain  citizens  from 
poll  tax,  552;  privileges  en- 
joyed by  clergyman  preach- 
ing before,  565;  estimates  the 
value  of  the  quitrents,  575; 
lays  a  tax  on  liquors,  581; 
requests  the  appointment  of  a 
sub-treasurer,  602 
Atheism,  i,  276,  277 
Atherley,  Christopher,  ii,  83 
Attorneys,  i,  required  to  be  li- 
censed in  1642,  561;  fees  in 
1642,  561;  no  fees  allowed  in 
1646,  562;  regular  attorneys 
excluded,  564;  fees  in  1680, 
566;  licensed,  567;  no  license 
again  required,  568;  law  so- 
ciety, 569;  leading  members  of 
county  bars,  570-587;  ii,  stat- 
ute relating  to  fees  of,  497 
Attorney-General,  i,  213,  214, 
272,  570.  57L  655,  688,  689, 
699,  703;  ",  355,457,461,  506, 
629 
Auditor,  ii,  598-601 
Auditor-General,  ii,  578,  598, 
Awbry,  Henry,  i,  407,  531,  601, 

602;  ii,  444 
Axell,  William,  ii,  56 
Ayleway,  Robert,  ii,  599 
Aylmer,  Rev.  Justinian,  i,  201, 

202,  233,  272 
Ayers,  i,  Francis,  417;  Hunting- 
ton, 616 

Back  River,  i,  353 

Bacon,  Edward,  ii,  38,  112 

Bacon,  Lord,  ii,  244 

Bacon,  Nathaniel,  Jr.,  i,  16, 
283,  325;  his  troops  carry 
off  books  from  private  houses, 
418;  illiteracy  of  his  followers, 
459;  accuses  Berkeley  of  fa- 


642 


Index 


Bacon,  Nathaniel  Jr. — Continued 
voritism,  489;  holds  James- 
town, 637 ;  ii,  declaration  about 
the  Virginian  soldiers,  63 ;  pop- 
ular measures  of,  88 ;  excepted 
from  pardon,  320;  leads  the  in- 
surrection, 357;  his  Declara- 
tion of  the  People, 361 ;  William 
Byrd  sympathizes  with,  364; 
reforms  abuses,  377;  effect  of 
his  death,  383;  summons  an 
assembly,  407;  arrested  on  his 
way  to  Jamestown,  447;  his 
anger  against  the  Burgesses, 
493;  who  formed  his  support- 
ers, 543;  seeks  to  remedy 
abuses,  559 
Bacon,  Nathaniel,  Sr.,  i,  ap- 
pointed military  commission- 
er, 150;  cost  of  his  funeral 
sermon,  160-161;  trustee  of 
William  and  Mary  College, 
382,  383;  custodian  of  col- 
lege funds,  391;  judge  i  n 
Drummond  case,  573;  ii,  cus- 
todian of  munitions,  47; 
serves  as  president  of  the 
Council,  309 ;  becomes  member 
of  the  Council,  370;  pays  out 
fund  for  building  a  new  State- 
House,  457;  contracts  for 
quit-rents,  578;  performs»du- 
ties  of  auditor,  599;  high 
influence  enjoyed  by,  610 
Bacon's   Assembly,    i,    66,    151, 

596;  ii,  572 
Bacon's    Rebellion,    see    Insur- 
rection of  1676 
Bahama  Isles,  i,  702 
Baker,  Lawrence,  ii,  555 
Baldry,  Robert,  i,  638;  ii,  163 
Ball,  i:  Anne,  286;  Rev.  John, 

180,  200,  211;  Samuel,  415 
Ball,  Joseph,  ii,  25 
Ball,  William,  i,  306,  601;  ii,  24, 

40 
Ballard,    Thomas,    i,    393,    575; 

ii,  24,  25,  173,  218 
Bally,  Richard,  i,  270 
Balmer,  William,  i,  341 
Balridge,  Dorothy,  i,  no 
Baltimore,  Lord,  i,  265,  318 
Baltimore,  ship,  ii,  220,  221 
Bancroft,  George,  i,  222,  235 
Banister,  i,  271,  382,  383;  ii,  95 


Baptism,  i,  220,  221 
Barbadoes,  i,  355 
Barber,  William,  i,  68 
Bargrave,  John,  ii,  242 
Bargrave,  Rev.  Thomas,  i,  199, 

365 
Barham,  Charles,  i,  311 
Barnes,  i:  Anthony,  286;  John, 

644 
Barrett,  Captain,  i,  697 
Barrow,  George,  i,  104 
Barrows,  Simon,  i,  172 
Bartin,  Walter,  i,  415 
Baskerville,  John,  i,  436 
Bass's  Choice,  ii,  100 
Basse,  Nathaniel,  i,  485 
Bassett,  William,  i,  601;  ii,  25, 

145 

Bastardy,  i,  prevails  among 
servant  women,  45,  46,  48, 
50;  punishments  for,  46-48, 
83-84;  burden  imposed  on 
public  by,  50 

Bathurst,  Lancelot,  i,  638 

Batte,  i:  Rev.  John,  200;  Thomas 
419,  448,  449,  491,  604 

Batts,  Thomas,  i,  624 

Bayley,  Walter,  i,  354 

Baytop,  Thomas,  i,  382 

Beale,  i,  631;  ii,  38 

Beard,  William,  i,  101 

Beckingham,  William  i,  424 

Bedfordtown,  i,  614 

Beecher,  Henry,  i,  244,  509 

Bennett,  i;  Edward,  253;  Robert, 
253;  Rev.  William,  200,  253; 
Samuel,  313 

Bennett,  Richard,  i,  253,  280, 
287;  ii,  21,  36,  83,  195,  336, 
346,  469,  470,  578 

Benson,  Mrs.,  i,  181 

Berkeley,  Governor,  i,  reaction 
under,  63;  praises  clergymen 
driven  to  Virginia,  120,  206; 
instructions  about  glebes,  164, 
165;  ordered  to  maintain  An- 
glican canons,  216;  forbids 
Quaker  conventicles,  231; 
activity  in  prosecuting  Quak- 
ers, 235,  236;  enemy  of  Quak- 
ers, 251;  becomes  Governor, 
253;  receives  letters  from 
Gov.  Winthrop,  254;  Rev. 
Mr.  Harrison  acts  as  his  chap- 
lain, 255;  detests  the  Puritans, 


Index 


643 


Berkeley,  Governor — Continued 
259;  hangs  Thomas  Hans- 
ford, 325;  refers  to  free 
schools,  360;  denounces  learn- 
ing and  printing,  402 ;  ordered 
to  enforce  English  law  in 
Virginia,  465;  refers  to  jury 
trials,  467;  declares  certain 
acts  repugnant  to  English  law, 
470;  writes  to  Major  Cro- 
shaw,  480;  appoints  Foxcroft 
a  justice,  487;  commissions 
justices  informally,  487;  com- 
missions Lower  Norfolk  jus- 
tices, 488;  charged  with  favor- 
itism, 489;  appoints  William 
Digges  a  justice,  489;  appoints 
judges,  491;  detests  Puritan- 
ism, 493;  authorizes  Coun- 
cillors to  sit  on  county 
bench,  495-499;  orders  oaths 
to  be  administered  to  justices, 
500;  instructed  to  establish 
county  courts,  542;  licenses 
Bridges  to  practise  law,  582; 
nominates  Conway  clerk,  588; 
impowers  Kemp  to  name 
clerks,  589;  urged  to  name 
Langly  sheriff,  595;  appoints 
a  sheriff  for  York  county, 
596;  affronts  the  English 
Commissioners  in  1676,  618; 
his  instructions  in  1642,  656; 
his  instructions  touching  writ 
of  Oyer  and  Terminer,  671; 
conduct  toward  the  followers 
of  Bacon,  675;  complaint 
made  to,  by  Walter  Bruce, 
682;  ii,  instructions  given  to, 
in  1 64 1 -2,  4;  estimates  num- 
ber of  troopers  in  Virginia, 
9;  commands  Jamestown  mili- 
tary district,  21;  appoints 
members  of  militia  board  in 
Lower  Norfolk  county,  22; 
petitions  English  Govern- 
ment for  powder^  37;  for- 
bidden to  nominate  the 
Muster-General,  65;  letter  by, 
about  Indians,  86;  autocratic 
influences  of,  88;  places  a 
guard  in  the  fort  at  Point 
Comfort,  142;  impowered  to 
erect  fortifications  in  Vir- 
ginia, 143;   beneficiary  of  the 


Point  Comfort  duties,  144; 
impowered  to  build  a  fort  at 
Jamestown,  145;  ordered  by 
the  Privy  Council  to  restore 
the  fort  at  Point  Comfort, 
146;  objects  to  its  restoration, 
146-149,  152;  criticises  the 
engineers  of  the  Colony,  155; 
advocates  guardships,  178; 
activity  against  the  Dutch, 
193-201;  opposes  revival  of 
the  London  Company's  char- 
ter, 261;  his  conduct  during 
the  Reaction,  264,  265;  writes 
to  English  Board  of  Control 
in  1662,  271;  letter  to,  from 
Board,  272;  his  influence 
cast  in  favor  of  the  monarchy 
in  the  civil  wars,  276,  277; 
restored  to  the  Governorship 
after  1659,  278,  302;  encour- 
ages the  Reaction  after  1660, 
280;  displaced  by  Parliament, 
304;  visits  London,  307;  term 
of,  lasted  until  his  successor 
was  chosen,  311;  violates  the 
King's  orders  about  the  rebels, 
320;  declines  to  dissolve  the 
House  for  fourteen  years, 
326;  reports  on  improvements 
made  by  the  planters,  329; 
identifies  himself  closely  with 
the  Colony,  332;  receives  a 
grant  of  Green  Spring,  336; 
presented  with  property  in 
Jamestown,  344;  public  gifts 
to,  347,  349;  power  of  in- 
fluencing others,  348;  conver- 
sation with  Colonel  Jeffreys, 
349;  attended  by  a  body- 
guard, 353;  no  reflection  on, 
allowed  by  the  General 
Court,  354,  355;  encourages 
a  selfish  public  spirit,  357; 
majority  of  his  Council  sup- 
port, in  1676,  364;  impowered 
to  fill  vacancies  in  his  Coun- 
cil, 371;  could  summon  for 
trial  any  Councillor  accused 
of  immorality  or  breach  of 
law,  372;  empowered  to  relieve 
the  Councillors  of  taxes, 
380;  authorized  to  build  a 
Governor's  mansion,  388;  pro- 
poses  that    taxes  should    be 


644 


Index 


Berkeley,  Governor — Continued 
imposed  by  the  acre,  413; 
influences  of  his  personal 
example  in  time  of  the  Long 
Assembly,  414;  instructed  to 
restrict  suffrage  to  freehold- 
ers, 415;  reinstated  in  the 
Governorship,  429;  refuses  to 
dissolve  the  Assembly,  430, 
432;  impowered  to  call  the 
Assembly  together,  431,  432; 
orders  Bacon's  arrest,  447; 
authorized  to  build  State- 
House,  453,  454;  supported 
by  the  higher  classes,  494; 
seeks  with  his  Council  to 
impose  taxes,  526;  favors 
taxing  the  soil,  542;  contracts 
for  the  quit-rents,  577;  refers 
to  the  tax  on  slaves,  583; 
estimates  the  amount  of  rev- 
enue from  the  tax  on  exported 
tobacco,  587 

Berkeley  Hundred,  ii,  290 

Berkeley,  Lady,  i,  618 

Bermuda  City,  i,  592 

Bermuda  Hundreds,  ii,  288,  289 

Berry,  Colonel,  see  Commis- 
sioners of  1677 

Berryman,  William,  i,  431 

Bertram,  Rev.  John,  i,  162 

Besouth,  Kate,  i,  in 

Beverley,  Peter,  i,  558,  580;  ii, 

25,  173.  479,  558 
Beverley,  Robert,  Jr.,  i,  describes 
provision  made  in  Virginia 
for  the  poor,  88;  refers  to 
minister's  dues,  93,  158-159; 
describes  condition  of  poor, 
141;  also  gifts  to  parishes, 
167;  refers  to  unworthy  cler- 
gymen, 205;  to  free  schools, 
359;  his  History,  445;  his 
account  of  court  procedure, 
556,  663,  664;  of  General 
Court  juries,  668;  register 
of  Admiralty  Court,  702; 
criticises  Howard,  705;  ii,  es- 
timates the  number  of  the 
militia,  10;  reflects  on  Cul- 
peper,  350;  refers  to  the 
Councillor's  salary,  377;  de- 
scribes the  Assembly's  pro- 
cedure, 478;  spirit  of  writings 
of,  622 


Beverley,  Robert,  Sr.,  i,  his 
culture,  443;  arrested  and 
bailed,  467,  468;  named  to 
build  a  court-house,  533; 
member  of  the  bar,  580; 
serves  as  a  coroner,  603; 
punished  for  aiding  the  plant- 
cutters,  632;  ii,  officer  of 
militia,  25;  obtains  arms 
from  England,  39;  furnishes 
supplies,  90;  receives  letter 
from  Captain  Cadwalader 
Jones,  106;  provides  food  for 
Rappahannock  garrison,  no, 
112;  action  of,  as  clerk  of  the 
Assembly,  472-474,  495,  496; 
codifier  of  the  Acts,  513;  in- 
fluence possessed  by,  610 

Bevill,  Ann,  i,  406 

Bevin,  William,  ii,  56 

Bibbe,  Edward,  i,  433 

Bible,  i,  267,  276,  303;  gifts  of, 
22,  23;  mentioned  in  inven- 
tories, 23-35;  for  sale  in  stores, 
23 ;  each  church  required  to 
purchase^  112 

Bickeley,  Richard,  ii,  5 

Biggs,  John,  i,  221 

Bird,  John,  i,  86 

Blackburne,  Christopher,  i,  429 

Blacksmiths,  ii,  57-60 

Blackstone,  Argoll,  i,  in 

Blackstone,  Governor,  ii,  218, 
223 

Blackstone,  Judge,  i,  601;  ii,  415 

Blackwater  River,  i,  387,  388, 
396;  ii,  103 

Blagg,  Thomas,  ii,  21 

Blair,  Rev.  James,  i,  statement 
of,  as  to  number  of  clergymen, 
125;  appointed  Commissary, 
128;  salary  of,  129;  contro- 
versy with  Nicholson,  129; 
suspended  by  the  Governor, 
130;  condemns  the  ^  proba- 
tional  tenure,  136;  divides  the 
Burgesses'  fees  among  the 
clergymen  preaching  before 
the  House,  162;  replies  to 
Burgesses  about  the  glebes, 
168,  169;  leaves  large  sum  to 
his  nephew,  181;  owns  land 
in  Henrico  county,  181;  his 
statement  about  clergymen 
controverted,   183;   signs  me- 


Index 


645 


Blair,  Rev.  James — Continued 
morial  to  Gov.  Andros,  200; 
his  antecedents,  202;  in- 
cumbent of  pulpit  at  James- 
town, 202;  serves  as  end-man 
at  a  horserace,  207;  supervises 
Quakers,  249;  trustee  of  Wil- 
liam and  Mary  College,  382, 
383;  appointed  the  College's 
agent  to  visit  England,  384; 
instructions  to,  for  his  mission, 
385,  386;  secures  the  College 
charter,  390;  grant  to,  391; 
acts  as  the  College's  spokes- 
man, 392;  a  second  mission  to 
England  by,  suggested,  395; 
on  College  pay-roll,  398; 
joint  author  of  a  pamphlet 
on  Virginia,  468;  ii,  criticises 
the  condition  of  the  forts 
in  Virginia,  171,  172;  becomes 
member  of  the  Council,  366 

Blaithwayt,  William,  i,  388, 
389,  391;  ii,  598 

Blake,  Peter,  i,  272 

Blanchville,  Charles,  i,  420 

Bland,   Giles,  ii,  448,  543,  544 

Bland,  Sarah,  i,  687 

Blaney's  Plantation,  ii,  33 

Blasphemy,  i,  276,  277 

Block  Island,  ii,  210 

Bloomfield,  i,  313;  ii,  284 

Blue  Ridge  Mountains,  ii,  297 

Bluet,  i,  346 

Blunt  Point,  ii,  129 

Boiling,  Robert,  i,  601 

Bolton,  i:  Rev.  Francis,  199,  202; 
Rev.  John,  211 

Bond,  Nicholas,  i,  436 

Boneman,  Alexander,  ii,  510 

Bonnewell,  Thomas,  i,  310 

Boodle,  Robert,  i,  88 

Booker,  Richard,  ii,  25 

Books,  i;  religious,  22-25;  be- 
longing to  clergyman,  173- 
176;  bequests  of  collections 
of,  405-409;  in  inventories, 
41 1-427 ;  owners  of,  in  Colony, 
427-440;  particular  volumes 
named,  428,  429,  431,  432, 
435;  written  in  Virginia,  445, 
446 

Booth,  i:  Humphrey,  218;  John, 
415;  Robert,  438,  439 

Boston,  i,  254,  260;  ii,  220 


Boston,  Henry,  ii,  502 
Bostwick,  Nathaniel,  ii,  186 
Boswell,  Edward,  i,  670 
Bottomley,  Thomas,  i,  419 
Boucher,  Daniel,  i,  26 
Boughan,  James,  i,  581 
Bouldin,  Morgan,  i,  310 
Bowman,  Edmund,  i,  268 
Boyle,  Robert,  i,  9,  396 
Bracewell,  Robert,  i,  .417 
Braddock,  General,  ii,  79 
Bradley,  Thomas,  i,  530 
Bradshaw,  Jacob,  i,  404 
Brafferton  Manor,  i,  396 
Bragge,  Edward,  i,  415 
Brampton,  Lord,  i,  614 
Branch,  Christopher,  i,  24,  409 
Bray,  Rev.  James,  i,  575;  ii,  464 
Bray,  Robert,  ii,  24 
Breeding,  John,  ii,  26 
Brent,  George,  i,  273,  283,  583, 

688;  ii,   III,  112 
Brent,  Giles,  ii,  588 
Brent,  Robert,  i,  273,  583 
Brereton,  ii,  45,  51,  89 
Brewster,  Captain,  i,  464,  473 
Brickhouse,  George,  i,  245 
Bricks,  i,  537,  538 
Bridge,  Thomas,  ii,  571 
Bridger,  Joseph,  i,  271,  272,  417, 

573.  574;  ">  22,  24,  93 
Bridges,  Anthony,  i,  582 
Bristol,  i,  319,  406;  ii,  587 
Bristol  Parish,  i,  77,  87,  482 
Britt,  Henry,  i,  668 
Broadhurst,  Walter,  i,  23 
Broadribb,  William,  i,  107 
Brocas,  William,  i,  423 
Brocksoppe,  Joan,  i,  227 
Brodhurst,  William,  i,  601 
Brodnax,  John,  i,  434;  ii,  479  \ 
Bromwell,  John,  i,  417 
Broughton,  Francis,  ii,  562 
Brown,  i:  Elizabeth,  679;  John, 
298;     Mary,     272;    Thomas, 
247;  William,  342 
Browne,  i:  Conquest,  407;  Fran- 
cis, 326;  Thomas,  234 
Browne,   ii:  Henry,  372;  John, 

9° 

Browne,  William,  i,  654;  ii,  24, 

170,  172,  278,  283 
Bruce,  George,  ii,  566 
Bruce,  Walter,  i,  300,  682 
Brunt,  Thomas,  i,  564 


646 


Index 


Bruton  Church,  i,  cost  of,  103; 
built  of  brick,  106;  fee  for 
funeral  service  in,  160;  ex- 
posure before  congregation  of, 
246 

Bruton  Parish,  i,  in,  134,  153 

Buck,  Rev.  Richard,  i,  succeeds 
Rev.  Mr.  Hunt,  196;  resides 
at  Jamestown,  198;  ordained, 
199;  fills  Jamestown  pulpit, 
202 

Buck,  Thomas,  i,  299 

Buckner,  John,  i,  402 

Buckner,  William,  i,  382;  ii,  218, 

513 
Bunton,  Mary,  i,  623 
Burdas,  William,  i,  408 
Burdett,  William,  i,  no;  ii,  53, 

54,  437 

Burgess,  John,  i,  669 

Burgesses,  House  of,  i,  discour- 
ages education  of  slaves,  9; 
requests  appointment  of  fast 
day,  16;  rejects  petition  about 
servants,  50;  supreme  during 
Puritan  control  of  affairs,  58; 
answers  clergy's  memorial, 
141,  142;  refers  to  clergymen's 
salaries,  155,  157;  replies  to 
clergymen's  complaint,  158; 
statement  by,  as  to  clergy- 
men's fees,  159,  161;  fees 
allowed  by,  to  clergymen, 
161;  controversy  with  clergy, 
167-169;  Porter  expelled 
from,  240;  Pleasants  elected 
a  member  of,  243;  candidate 
for  Speaker  of,  277;  William 
Byrd  becomes  member  of, 
321;  deprecates  summoning 
schoolmasters  to  Jamestown, 
335;  praises  Gov.  Nicholson, 
381;  considers  a  site  for  the 
College,  381;  visited  by  Col- 
lege trustees,  391;  adopts 
Middle  Plantation  as  the 
site  for  the  College,  392; 
adjourns  to  attend  the  Col- 
lege exercises,  399;  Declara- 
tion by,  in  1651,  447;  its 
clerk  arrested,  467;  its  power 
during  the  Protectorate,  487; 
many  county  justices  mem- 
bers of,  489,  523;  encourages 
the  suppression  of  attorneys, 


565;  declines  to  erect  bride- 
wells, 636;  refuses  to  pay  for 
use  of  a  county  jail,  638;  meets 
in  General  Court-house,  655; 
its  character  as  a  court,  691; 
instructs  English  agent,  695; 
ii,  opposition  by,  to  drilling 
the  white  servants,  6,  7,  8; 
asked  to  revoke  the  fines 
against  the  Quakers,  9;  places 
the  militia  under  English 
regulations,  11;  criticises  the 
fortifications  in  the  Colony 
in  1 69 1,  168;  forms  part  of 
first  General  Assembly,  246; 
who  chose,  249;  ordered  to 
meet  regularly  by  Charles  I, 
256;  supreme  during  the 
Protectorate,  262;  petitions 
the  King  for  a  charter,  266; 
applies  to  Privy  Council  in 
1632,  268;  why  the  term  was 
first  used, 291;  elects  Governor 
in  time  of  the  Protectorate, 
311;  copy  of  Governor's 
Instructions  filed  among  the 
records  of,  319;  attitude  of 
Culpeper  towards,  at  first, 327, 
328;  address  to  Privy  Council 
by,  in  1631,  342;  spirit  of, 
as  to  the  public,  344;  attended 
by  a  guard,  353;  resents  an 
attack  on  Berkeley,  355; 
governs  Virginia  in  time  of 
Protectorate,  381;  agreement 
of,  with  Sherwood  about  coun- 
cil hall,  389;  how  the  writ  for 
election  of,  issued,  407,  408; 
who  could  vote  for,  409,  410; 
qualification  of  the  right  to 
vote  for,  introduced,  410-415; 
where  elected,  417,  418;  man- 
ner of  choosing,  418,  419; 
who  might  be  chosen,  42 1 ; 
character  of  membership, 
423-426;  territorial  basis  of 
membership,  426,  427;  num- 
ber of  members,  427-430; 
frequency  of  sessions,  431- 
434;  remuneration  of,  435- 
440;  extra  expenses  on  ac- 
count of,  440-443;  onerous- 
ness of  the  charges  on  account 
of,  443-445;  exemption  from 
arrest    allowed    members    of, 


Index 


647 


Burgesses,  House  of — Continued 
445-447;  members  of,  not 
allowed  to  be  defamed,  448, 
449;  place  where  it  met,  450- 
461;  hour  of  meeting,  462, 
463;  proceedings  of,  463; 
attendance  of  members 
strictly  required,  464-467; 
Speaker  of,  468-472 ;  clerk  of, 
472-474;  messenger  of,  474, 
475;  doorkeepers  of,  476; 
committees  of,  478-486;  dis- 
solution of,  485;  procedure 
on  floor  of,  486;  general 
spirit  of,  489-499;  ^  insists 
upon  its  exclusive  right  to 
tax,  526-530;  resists  all  tax- 
ation without  its  own  consent, 
530-533;  disapproves  of  a 
land  tax,  542;  members  ex- 
empted from  poll  tax,  565; 
general  comment  on,  629,  630 

Burial  grounds,  i,  113 

Burkland,  Richard,  i,  326 

Burlington,  Lord,  i,  397 

Burnham,  Alexander,  ii,  21 

Burnham,  John,  i,  24;  ii,  39 

Burrage,  John,  i,  567 

Burroughs,  Christopher,  i,  415; 
ii,  20 

Burrows  Hill,  ii,  33 

Burwell,  Francis,  ii,  25 

Burwell's  Bay,  i,  253 

Busby,  Thomas,  i,  32 

Busher,  George,  i,  279 

Bushrod,  i,  Elizabeth,  437; 
Thomas,  229,  233,  576 

Butler,  i:  Rev.  Amory,  173,  180; 
Elizabeth,  319;  Thomas,  177; 
William,  173,  200 

Butler,  Governor,  i,  464;  ii,  131 

Butterfield,  Jane,  i,  46 

Byrd,  Anne,  i,  287 

Byrd,  William,  Jr.,  i,  321;  ii,  424, 
521,  611,  622 

Byrd,  William,  Sr.,  i,  his  piety, 
21;  sells  land,  181;  his  letter 
books,  317,  444;  trustee  of 
the  College,  382,  383;  pays 
out  money  for  the  College, 
391;  agrees  to  make  a  settle- 
ment at  the  Falls,  483;  pre- 
sides in  county  court,  501- 
502;  resides  at  the  Falls,  528; 
serves  as  coroner,  603;  audi- 


tor, 702;  ii,  colonel  of  militia 
24,  25;  instructed  to  buy 
powder,  46;  commands  a 
military  district,  93,  94; 
offers  to  keep  up  a  fort  at  the 
Falls  of  the  James,  105;  buys 
stores  for  the  fort,  109; 
buys  food  for  the  James 
River  garrison,  no,  in; 
inspects  fort  at  Jamestown, 
172;  joins  in  a  report  on 
fortifications,  174;  furnishes 
food  for  pirate  prisoners, 
223;  sympathizes  at  first 
with  Bacon,  364;  serves  as 
Councillor,  365;  salary  of, 
as  Burgess,  444;  reviser 
of  the  Acts,  511;  granted 
certain  rights  at  the  Falls  of 
the  James,  518;  sells  the 
quit-rents,  578;  becomes  au- 
ditor, 599;  advances  money 
to  Virginia  government,  600; 
high  position  and  great  in- 
fluence enjoyed  by,  507,  610 

Calthorpe,  i:  Anne,  455;  Barba- 
ra, 455;  Eleanor,  455;  James, 
104 

Calvert,  i:  Robert,  302;  Rev. 
Sampson,  133,  150,  210 

Campbell,  Charles,  i,  123,  253; 

ii.  347 
Campbell,    i:    Hugh,    191,    267, 

333.  336;  John,  616 
Canada,  ii,  68 
Canfield,    Robert,    i,    487,    506, 

599;  ",  555 
Canterbury,    Archbishop    of,    i, 

208 
Cape  Charles,  ii,  214 
Cape  Henry,  ii,  214,  368 
Capps,  William,  ii,  127,  258 
Carleton,  Sir  Dudley,  ii,  253 
Carolina,  i,  184 
Carpenter,  John,  i,  36,  83 
Carr,  Rev.  Robert,  i,  200 
Carter,  John,  i,  buys  a  servant 
to    teach    his    son,    329;    be- 
queaths his  books  to  his  son, 
407;   character  of  his  books, 
424-425;    contracts   to    build 
a  court-house  at  Corotoman, 
532;    his   law   books,  560;   ii, 
colonel   of   militia,    24;   takes 


648 


Index 


Carter,  John — Continued 
part  in  a  march  against   the 
Indians,   40;    commands    an 
expedition     against    the    In- 
dians, 85;  Burgess  from  Lan- 
caster county,  439 
Carter  Plantation,  ii,  165 
Carter,    Robert,    i,  Speaker    of 
the  House,  214;  taught  by  a 
servant,   329;    suggested   for 
trusteeship    of    the    College, 
382;  inherits  law  books,  560; 
ii,  officer  of  militia,  25;  elected 
Speaker  of  the  Assembly,  469 ; 
appointed  Treasurer,   604 
Carter,  Thomas,  i,  305 
Cartwright,  Alice,  i,  282 
Carver,  William,  i,  287,  641 
Cary,  i:  John,  319;  Tom,  negro, 

673 
Cary,  Miles,   1,    382,   383,   393, 

702;  ii,  25,  145,219,513,577 
Cary,  Thomas,  ii,  147 
Casson,  Thomas,  i,  415 
Castle  Charges,  ii,  135  et  seq 
Catlett,  i,  John,  218,  318;  Wil- 
liam, 407 
Causen,  Mrs.  Thomas,  i,  51 
Caynscough,  George,  i,  616 
Cecil,  General,  ii,  129 
Chamberlaine,     Humphrey,     i, 

639 

Chamberlaine,    Thomas,    i,    41, 
43,  92,  418,  507,  639;  ii,  24, 
5i6 
Champeon,  Edward,  i,  342 
Chancery,     i,     court    of,     705; 
jurisdiction     of,     in     county 
court,  551,  552 
Chaplain's  Choice^  ii,  33 
Chapman,  Philip,  i,  431 
Chapman,  William,  ii,  81 
Charles  City,  ii,  131,  291 
Charles    City    Corporation,    ii, 

291,  427 
Charles  City  County,  i,  vacant 
pulpits  in,  124;  records  of, 
440;  parish  court  in,  482; 
monthly  court  of,  485;  its 
court  terms,  520;  first  court 
erected  in,  541;  sheriff  of, 
601;  ii,  military  quota  re- 
quired of,  in  1686,  11;  militia 
officers  in,  23;  provision  in, 
for  Indian  march,  91,  93,  94; 


soldiers  enlisted  in,  100;  date 
of  its  formation,  294;  after 
whom  named,  298;  number 
of  Burgesses  from,  428;  quit- 
rents  of,  farmed  out,  577; 
value  of  quit-rents  in,  579 

Charles  First,  ii,  fort  in  Virginia 
named  after,  127;  outlines 
plan  for  Virginia  government, 
255;  vacillates  as  to  revival 
of  London  Company,  260-262 ; 
creates  a  Board  of  Commis- 
sioners, 268;  his  death,  274, 
275;  his  name  given  to  a 
county,  298;  promises  to  Ber- 
keley, 348;  grant  of  .powers 
to  the  Council,  374 

Charles,  i:  Parish,  27;  River,  177 

Charles  River  County,  ii,  294, 
428 

Charles  Second,  i,  proclama- 
tion against  Quakers,  236; 
proclamation  in  favor  of 
Roman  Catholics,  268;  proc- 
lamation of  pardon,  680; 
appoints  Peter  Jennings  to 
office,  688;  ii,  presents  pow- 
der to  Virginia,  42;  impow- 
ers  Berkeley  to  build  forts, 
143;  his  rights  supported  by 
the  Virginians,  275,  277-279, 
280;  impowers  the  Governor 
to  choose  a  deputy,  307; 
promises  to  Berkeley,  348; 
bestows  quit-rents  on  Colo- 
nel Norwood,  576;  appoints 
Norwood  Treasurer  of  Vir- 
ginia, 604 

Charlton,  •  i:  Elizabeth,  325, 
326,  455,  576;  Stephen,   171, 

455 
Charter  of   1606,   1,  4,   612;  11, 

230  et  seq. 
Charter  of  1609,  i,  472,  651;  ii, 

237-240 
Charter  of  1621,  i,  550,  593 
Charter  of  William  and   Mary 

College,  i,  390,  391 
Chekanessecks,  i,  538 
Cheney,  Thomas,  ii,  279,  280 
Chesapeake    Bay,    i,    232,    253; 

ii,    132,    178,    180,    183,    184, 

203,  205,  212,  218,  221,  308 
Cheskiack,  ii,  98,  132 
Cheskiack  Parish,  i,  55,  170,  208 


Index 


649 


Chesley,  Philip,  i,  319 

Chew,  John,  i,  529 

Chichely,  Sir  Henry,  i,  pardons 
a  plantcutter,  675,  680;  ii,  es- 
timates the  number  of  the 
militia,  10;  reports  a  defi- 
ciency in  arms  in  the  Colony, 
38;  reports  discontent,  41; 
appointed  Lieutenant-Gen- 
eral, 198;  acts  as  Governor, 
307;  criticises  agents  of  Vir- 
ginia in  London,  519;  peti- 
tions for  the  release  of  quit- 
rents,   576 

Chickahominy  Indians,  i,  13; 
ii,  79,  81 

Chickahominy  River,  i,  163; 
ii,  100,  125,  291 

Chiles,  ii:  Henry,  26;  John,  475; 
Walter,  469,  470 

Chilton,  i,  Edward,  joint  author 
of  a  Virginia  pamphlet,  468; 
practises  in  YorkCounty,  576; 
Attorney-General,  688;  ad- 
vocate in  Admiralty  Court, 
702; John,  114;  Stephen,  509 

Chincoteague,  ii,  211 

Chippoak,  i,  57,  100 

Chisman,  i,  John,  529;  Mary, 
236 

Christ's  Hospital,  i,  314 

Churches,  i,  kept  in  repair,  81; 
first  in  Virginia,  94,  95;  De  la 
Warr's  interest  in  church  at 
Jamestown,  95;  Dale  builds 
church  at  Henricopolis,  96; 
Mrs.  Robinson's  church  for 
the  Indians,  97;  one  to  be 
built  for  each  parish,  98; 
church  in  Elizabeth  River 
Parish,  99;  church  at  James- 
town, 1642,  1 01;  private  con- 
tributions for  erection  of 
new  church,  102;  church  at 
Middle  Plantation,  103;  at 
Yorktown,  104;  contract  for 
church  building,  104,  105; 
church  at  Smithfield,  106; 
repairing  churches,  106;  pews 
in,  107;  plate  and  ornaments, 
109  et  seq.;  surroundings  of, 
113;  burial  plats  near,  113; 
highways  to,  114 

Churchhill,  William,  ii,  184 

Churchwardens,   i,    duties  of, 


79,  80,  81,  82;  how  often 
appointed,  80;  oath  of,  80- 
82;  presentments  by,  82; 
their  charge  as  to  bastardy, 
83-85;  as  to  orphans,  85,  86; 
as  to  the  poor,  87-90;  collect 
parish  dues,  91;  issue  at- 
tachments, 91;  the  assistants 
to,  93;  required  to  observe 
Anglican  canons,  217 

City  Point,  ii,  292 

Claiborne,    William,   i,    163;   ii, 

98,  99.  139.  392,  394,  39^,  397. 
400 

Claims,  court  of,  i,  546 

Clark,  Daniel,  ii,  24 

Clarke,  i:  George,  431;  Hum- 
phrey, 299;  Rev.  James,  203; 
John,  518;  Robert,  313,  434; 
William,  342 

Clarkson,  John,  i,  62 

Claughton,  James,  i,  421;  ii,  51 

Clay,  Charles,  i,  419;  ii,  56 

Clayne,  George,  i,  412 

Clayton,  Rev.  John,  i,  201,  202; 
ii,  156 

Clayton,  Thomas,  ii,  479 

Clergy,  i,  indictments  against, 
33 ;  select  sites  for  new  church- 
es, 98;  chiefly  natives  of 
England,  116;  invited  to  re- 
move to  Virginia,  118;  emigra- 
tion of,  to  Virginia  in  Puritan 
times,  119,  120;  their  expenses 
of  emigration  paid,  121;  rela- 
tion of  the  projected  College 
to,  122,  125;  appeals  to  Eng- 
land for  additional,  123,  124; 
number  of,  in  Colony  in  1697, 
125;  required  to  be  ordained, 
126;  irregularities  in  appoint- 
ment of,  127,  128;  supervised 
by  Commissary,  128;  Gov- 
ernor's right  to  collate,  131; 
vestry's  right  to  choose  and 
present,  131,  132;  popular 
election  of,  133;  contracts 
with,  1,33;  their  tenure,  135- 
136;  its  drawbacks,  136,  137, 
143;  reasons  for  probational 
tenure  of,  139-142;  general 
advantages  enjoyed  by,  143; 
salaries  of,  in  1619,  145,  146; 
in  1623-4,  147;  to  be  paid 
before    other    creditors,    148; 


650 


Index 


Clergy — Continued 

vestry  could  increase  salaries 
of,  148,  149;  exempted  from 
taxation,  150,  151;  amount 
paid  to,  in  1666,  152;  in  1683, 
153;  discontent  among,  154; 
the  King  seeks  to  improve 
condition  of ,  155,  156;  Andros 
neglects  to  approve  law 
relating  to  salaries  of,  157; 
marriage  and  burial  fees  of, 
159,  160,  161;  other  fees  of, 
161,  162;  bequests  to,  162; 
entitled  to  glebes,  163;  size 
of  their  glebes,  163,  164,  165; 
gifts  of  glebe  lands  for  benefit 
of,  166;  glebes  of,  stocked 
with  cattle,  167;  general 
condition  of  their  glebes, 
167-169;  their  parsonages, 
170-172;  their  libraries,  173- 
176;  their  estates,  177-182; 
their  general  condition,  183; 
bonds  given  by,  183,  184; 
serve  as  agents,  184;  as  trus- 
tees, 184;  suits  against,  185; 
required  to  report  to  vestry 
all  burials  and  marriages, 
186;  to  instruct  children  and 
servants,  186,  187;  hold  an- 
nual meetings  at  Jamestown, 
187;  deliver  monthly  sermons 
in  chapels-of-ease,  188;  as- 
sisted by  readers,  189;  their 
general  social  work,  192,  193; 
zeal  of 'early  pastors,  194-198; 
individual  pastors,  198-200; 
their  education,  200-203; 
influences  to  promote  good 
character  among,  203-207; 
wrongdoers  among,  208-214; 
laws  relating  to  Anglican  ob- 
servances, 215-218;  ii,  priv- 
ileges of,  when  preaching  be- 
fore General  Assembly,  565 

Clerk  of  Assembly,  ii,  389,  472- 

474 
Clerk  of  Council,  ii,  387 
Clerk  of  County  Court,  i,  588- 

Clerk  of  General  Court,  i,  687; 

".  399 
Clotworthy,  Walter,  i,  18 
Clough,  Rev.  John,  i,  200,  202 
Clutton,  Thomas,  i,  90 


Clyborn,  John,  i,  314 

Coar,  Mary,  i,  326 

Coats,  Samuel,  i,  342 

Cocke,  i:  John,  455;  Richard, 
601,  603;  Stephen,  43 

Cocke,  Thomas,  i,  112,  416, 
528,  560,  639;  ii,  54,  94 

Cocke,  ii,  Thomas,  Jr.,  166, 
492;  William,  24,  36 

Cocks,  John,  i,  421 

Codd,  St.  Leger,  i,  ,  74;  ii,  108, 
421 

Codification  of  laws,  i,  467;  ii, 
247,  248,  510,  511 

Coe,  Timothy,  i,  241 

Coke,  Sir  John,  ii,  269 

Colbourne,  William,  i,  231,  233 

Cole,  John,  i,  33,  537;  ii,  85 

Cole,  i,  Edward,  282;  Richard, 
21,  505;  Rev.  Samuel,  133 

Cole,  William,  i,  382,  574;  ii, 
204,394  .    . 

Cole,  Quaker  missionary,  i,  226 

Coleman,  Robert,  i,  530 

Collectors  of  Customs,  ii,  47, 
590  et  seq. 

College  of  1660,  i,  122,  373S79 

College  land,  ii,  33 

College  plantation,  i,  366,  371; 
ii,    427 

Collion,  John,  i,  84 

Colston,  William,  i,  626 ;  ii,  445 

Commanders,  ii,  duties' (!of,  15- 
19;  impowered  to  choose  their 
subordinates,  19,  20;  super- 
vised the  drill,  65;  members  of 
Council  of  War,  83;  required 
to  relieve  the  garrisons  when 
pressed,  104;  to  enlist  rangers, 
118 

Commissioners  of  customs,  ii, 
505,  5o6 

Commissioners  of  1677,  i,  459, 
618;  ii,  161,  364,  389,  433, 
442,  455,  493,  495,  496,  545 

Committees  of  the  House,  ii, 
477-486       . 

Conformity,  1,  acts  to  enforce, 
215-218;  heretical  clergymen, 
218,  219;  heretical  laymen, 
219-221 

Conquest,  Richard,  i,  559,  640 

Constable,  i,  602 

Constant,  Mathew,  ship,  i,  698 

Conway,  Edwin,  i,  266,  588 


Index 


651 


Cook,  i:  Elizabeth,  36;   Thomas, 

555 
Cooper,  1,  166,  525;  ii,  93 
Copeland,  Joseph,  ii,  463 
Copeland,  Rev.   Mr.,  i,  347,  348 
Corbyn,  Gawin,  i,  385;  ii,  447, 

604 
Corbyn,  Henry,  i,  133 
Cordon,  i,  544 
Coroner,  i,  603,  604 
Corotoman,  i,  532;    ii,  150,  167, 

202 
Cortney,  Thomas,  i,  36 
Cottingham,  Lord,  ii,  269 
Cotton,  Rev.  William,    i.,   147, 

170 
Council,  i,  members  of,  required 
to  pay  tax  to  support  clergy, 
146;  members  of,  who  favored 
Puritanism  in  1648,  256;  re- 
proves criticism  of  the  King, 
268;  ii,  members  of,  appointed 
commanders,  22;  order  by, 
about  arms,  48;  requests  the 
Governor  to  appoint  com- 
manders in  1680,  93;  disbands 
the  Rangers,  119;  orders 
report  to  be  made  on  forti- 
fication at  Jamestown,  172; 
orders  arrest  of  vagabond 
sailors,  185;  seeks  to  obtain 
ordnance  from  England,  194; 
payment  to  Gilbert  Moore  by, 
215;  part  taken  by,  in  Har- 
vey's deposition,  305;  at  first, 
the  Governor's  instructions 
were  disclosed  to,  319;  charac- 
ter of  membership  of,  358, 
359;  duties  and  powers  of, 
359,  360;  criticised  by  Bacon, 
361;  by  Benjamin  Harrison, 
Jr.,  362;  by  Henry  Hartwell, 
363;  number  of  members  of, 
366;  how  members  were 
appointed,  368;  how  vacan- 
cies in  were  filled,  369-371; 
powers  of,  374,  375;  its  right 
to  tax,  376;  officers  of,  387; 
where  the  Council  met,  388, 
389;  legislative  powers  of,  in 
time  of  first  charters,  403- 
405;  powers  later  on  as  to 
legislation,  501 
Councillors,  i,  sat  in  county 
courts,      496;      presided      in 


county  courts  when  present, 
501 ;  served  in  General  Court, 
660-664;  **,  acted  as  colonels 
for  groups  of  counties,  22,  23; 
criticised  by  Harvey,  318; 
spirit  of,  364;  who  were 
eligible  to  become,  365;  the 
Governor's  power  to  remove 
or  suspend,  372-373;  what 
constituted  a  quorum  of,  373; 
salary  of,  376,  377;  pecuniary 
advantages  enjoyed  by,  378- 
383;  exempted  from  arrest, 
383-385;  punishment  for 
slandering,  385,  386;  how 
designated,  391;  exempted 
from  taxation,  565;  quit-rents 
farmed  out  to,  577;  not  per- 
mitted, in  1699,  to  serve  as 
collectors,  593 

Counterfeiting,  i,  619 

County,  the,  ii,  first  to  be  es- 
tablished, 294;  by  whom 
formed,  295;  progress  of  sub- 
division of,  297,  298;  origin  of 
names  of,  298,  299 

County  Court,  i,  its  supervision 
of  orphans  and  apprentices, 
308-311;  its  supervision  of 
schoolmasters,  337-339;  es- 
tablished by  ordinance  of 
1618,  484;  where  it  first  met, 
484,  485,  486;  provision  for 
sites  for,  486;  how  the  judges 
of,  were  referred  to,  488; 
among  whom  the  justices  of, 
were  chosen,  488;  character 
of  its  membership,  489;  how 
the  justices  of,  were  nomi- 
nated, 489-492;  their  number, 
491-494;  Councillors  could 
sit  in,  496-499;  oaths  of 
judges  of,  500;  quorum  of, 
501;  remuneration  of  judges 
of,  502-504;  vacancies  in, 
504;  suspension  of  judges  of, 
505-507;  its  dignity  main- 
tained, 508-511;  disrespect 
to  judges  of,  punished,  511- 
515;  frequency  of  its  terms, 
516;  extra  sessions  of,  517, 
518;  different  dates  of  holding, 
in  different  counties,  519-521; 
absences  of  judges  of,  522, 
523;    the    court-houses,    524- 


652 


Index 


County  Court — Continued 
539;  reasons  for  erection  of 
local  courts,  540;  set  up  in 
remote  parts  of  Colony,  541; 
limit  to  its  final  adjudication, 
541,  542;  variety  of  its  busi- 
ness, 543-547;  relation  to 
recordation  of  deeds,  548; 
trial  in,  by  jury,  550-553;  legal 
equipment  of  judges  of,  554- 
560;  procedure  in,  555,  556; 
libraries  attached  to,  556-558 ; 
clerks  of,  acted  at  first  as 
.attorneys,  561;  fixes  fees  of 
attorneys,  562;  no  fees  after- 
wards allowed  by,  562 ;  _  no 
feed  attorneys  at  one  time 
allowed  to  practise  before, 
562-565;  fees  finally  allowed 
by,  566;  attorneys  of,  licensed, 
567;  license  afterwards  not 
required  by,  568;  leading 
attorneys  practising  before, 
570-587;  who  appointed  clerk 
of,  588,  589;  fees  of  its  clerk, 
590;  cryer  of,  591;  provost 
marshal  of,  592-594;  who 
appointed  sheriff  of,  594; 
duties  of  sheriff  of,  597,  598; 
term  of  sheriff,  599;  fees  of 
sheriff,  600;  names  of  sheriffs, 
601;  its  constables,  602;  its 
coroners,  603,  604;  its  grand 
jury  indictments,  605-609 ; 
comparative  leniency  of  _  its 
punishments,6n-6i5;  variety 
of  its  punishments, — the  gal- 
lows, 616-618;  fines,  619;  the 
lash,  621-627;  the  stocks,  627; 
pillory,  628;  ducking,  629, 
630;  kneeling  in  court,  630- 
632;  prisons  subject  to  su- 
pervision of,  633-646;  see 
Justices  of  County  Court 

Cox,  i:  Richard,  404;  Vincent, 

307 
Coxendale,  i,  366 
Crackenthorpe,    Rev.    Richard, 

i,  5 

Craddock,  William,  i,  592 
Crafford,  i,  William,  311 
Crashaw,  Rev.    Mr.    i,  5,   118, 

196,  198,  278 
Creed,  ii,  509 
Crews,  James,  i,  419 


Cripp,  Zachariah,  i,  167 

Croft,  i,  276,  650 

Crofts,  Captain,  ii,  181-183 

Cromwell,  Henry,  i,  201,  257 

Cromwell,  Oliver,  see  Protec- 
torate 

Crooke,  Robert,  i,  352 

Croshaw,  Joseph,  i,  104,  436, 
480;  Richard,  436 

Cross,  John,  i,  644 

Crouch,  William,  i,  80 

Crowder's  Plantation,  ii,  33 

Cryer  of  court,  i,  591,  663 

Cugley,  i,  430;  ii,  354 

Cullen,  Thomas,  i,  417 

Culpeper  and  Arlington  Patent, 
ii,  281 

Culpeper,  John,  i,  601 

Culpeper,  Lord,  i,  mentions 
cost  of  Bruton  church,  103; 
his  report  in  1681,  139;  re- 
fers to  clergymen's  salaries, 
153;  to  the  parsonages,  171; 
protects  an  indicted  Quaker, 
242;  enumerates  the  Papists  in 
Virginia,  274;  condemns  the 
condition  of  prisons,  635;  com- 
mends the  procedure  in  the 
General  Court,  663;  taunts 
Chichely,  675;  recommends  the 
abolition  of  the  right  of  legal 
appeal  to  the  Assembly,  693; 
ii,  reports  the  numbers  of 
Virginia  troops,  10;  carries 
powder  to  Virginia,  41 ;  visits 
London,  42;  advice  as  to  how 
to  resist  Indians,  79;  inspects 
the  tidewater  forts,  163,  168; 
threatened  with  removal,  304; 
confers  his  powers  on  his 
Council  in  his  absence,  309; 
appointed  Governor  for  life, 
312;  his  first  official  act,  313, 
327,  328;  unable  to  pardon 
the  plantcutters,  320;  resides 
at  Green  Spring,  337;  chief 
aim  while  in  Virginia,  339, 
350;  persuades  the  King  to 
increase  the  Governor's  salary 
35°>  351;  impowered  to  fill 
vacancies  in  his  Council,  371; 
refers  to  the  clerk  of  the 
Assembly,  472 ;  relations  with 
the  Assembly,  494,  495,  498; 
repeals  six  Acts  by  proclama- 


Index 


653 


Culpeper,  Lord — Continued 
tion,  507 ;  seeks  with  his  Coun- 
cil to  impose  taxes,  526; 
disapproves  of  poll  tax,  545; 
estimates  number  of  tithables 
in  Virginia,  554;  describes 
the  county  levy,  560;  effort 
to  buy  the  Northern  Neck 
from,  565;  King  grants  quit- 
rents  of  Virginia  to  Arlington 
and,  576 ;  retains  the  quit-rents 
of  the  Northern  Neck,  580 

Currituck,   ii,  214 

Custis,  Henry,  i,  30 

Custis,  John,  Jr.,  i,  577,  579 

Custis,  John,  Sr.?>  i,  immoral 
servants  belonging  to,  49; 
owns  pew  in  Hungar's  church, 
108;  commissioner  of  high- 
ways, 114;  provides  for  the 
education  of  his  son,  306, 
322;  serves  as  sheriff,  601;  as 
coroner,  603 ;  ii,  officer  of  mili- 
tia, 25;  reports  the  presence 
of  a  pirate  ship,  215;  arrests 
Pike  for  disloyalty,  285;  dis- 
tance he  had  to  travel  as 
Councillor,  379;  high-handed 
proceedings  of,  482 

Custis,  Thomas,  i,  448 

Custis,  William,  i,  289,  502;  ii, 
25.39 

Dalby,  i:  Thomas,  341;  Wil- 
liam, 680 

Dale,  Edward,  i,  513;  ii,  25 

Dale,  Peter,  i,  418 

Dale,  Sir  Thomas,  i,  instructs 
Pocahontas,  7;  religious  dis- 
position of,  11,  12;  requires 
observance  of  fast  days,  15; 
letter  of,  to  London  clergyman, 
64;  church  wardens  in  time  of, 
79 ;  builds  church  at  Henrico- 
polis,  96,  98;  pastors  in  time 
of,  198;  enforces  the  Martial 
Laws,  473,  474,  616;  events 
during  administration  of,  651, 
652;  ii,  sees  need  of  store- 
houses, 31;  erects  blockhouse, 
125;  enforces  strict  sanitary 
rules,  125;  saluted  by  fort  at 
Point  Comfort,  126;  builds 
Henricopolis,  128;  establishes 
New  Bermuda  Hundreds,  288; 


appoints  Yeardley  his  suc- 
cessor, 307;  imposes  a  heavy 
penalty  for  mutiny,  355;  in- 
troduces Martial  Laws,  405 

Daniel,  Elizabeth,  i,  23 

Daniel  and  Elizabeth,  ship,  ii, 
182 

Darell,  Sampson,  i,  580 

Davenport,  John,  i,  303 

Davies,  Rev.  Charles,  i,  200 

Davis,  ii:  Edward,  209;  John, 
126;  Thomas,  226 

Davis,  i:  Jonathan,  127;  Joshua, 
68;    Timothy,    270;    William, 

3H 

Davison,  ii:  Christopher,  392; 
William,  392 

Day,  James,  i,  342 

Daynes,  William,  i,  415,  505 

Deacon,  Thomas,  i,  433 

Deacons,   i,    189 

Debers,  i,  429 

Declaration  of  165 1,  i,  466 

Deeley,  Edward,  i,  27 

Delamasse,  Anthony,  i,  46 

Delaunay,  Francois,  i,  677;  ii, 
225 

Delawafer,  Lionel,  ii,  209 

De  la  Warr,  Lord,  i,  arrives  at 
Jamestown,  95;  improves  the 
church  at  Jamestown,  95; 
provisions  of  his  commission, 
473;  ii,  erects  forts  on  South- 
ampton River,  127;  elected 
Governor,  301;  his  commis- 
sion authorizes  appointment 
of  Lieutenant-Governor,  307; 
his  titles  as  Governor,  317; 
power  to  select  his  Council- 
lors, 369;  authorized  to  adopt 
ordinances  in  association  with 
his  Council,  404;  Jamestown 
church  in  time  of,  450 

Denbigh  Parish,  i,  58 

Dennis,  John,  i,  421 

Denwood,  Levin,  i,  232 

Deptford,  ship,  i,  270;  ii,  181 

Deputy-Governor,  ii,  306,  307, 
332,  498 

Deputy,  Robert,  1,  36 

De  Ruyter,  ii,   193 

Dewes,  Thomas,  ii,  83 

Dewey,  George,  i,  433 

Digges,  Edward,  i,  489,  681; 
ii,  524,  599 


^54 


Index 


Digges,  i,  Dudley,  305;  Eliza- 
beth, 24,  438;  William,  489, 
490 

Digges  Hundred,  ii,  288 

Dike,  i,  348 

Dissent,  see  Quakers,  Papists, 
Puritans  and  Presbyterians 

Dixon,  i:  Ambrose,  232;  John, 
518;    Christopher,   692 

Dobbs,  Robert,  i,  439 

Dodman,  John,  i,  266 

Dodsworth,  Elizabeth,  i,  184 

Doeg  Indians,  i,  283 

Doggett,  Rev.  Benjamin,  i,  142, 
174,  200 

Donaphan,  see  Dornphin 

Donne,  George,  ii,  64 

Dornphin,  Alexander,  i,  84 

Dorset,  Earl,  ii,  269 

Doughty,  i,  Rev.  James,  chosen 
for  pulpit  in  Northampton 
county,  133;  Rev.  Thomas, 
reimbursed  for  improper  taxes, 
150;  complains  of  non-delivery 
of  tithes,  151;  owns  large 
estate,  180;  Rev.  Francis, 
controversy  with  his  vestry, 
218;  leaves  the  colony,  219; 
accuses  a  parishioner  of  witch- 
craft, 280 

Douglas,  Captain,  i,  701 

Doyley,  Rev.  Cope,  i,  142,  161, 
200,  203,  506;  ii,  464 

Drummond,    Mrs.    William,    i, 

573,  574 

Drummond,  William,  i,  674;  ii, 
156 

Drunkenness,  i,  in  Accomac 
county,  33;  laws  of  1619 
touching,  38;  strict  rules  as  to 
punishing,  39;  prevalence  of, 
in  Henrico  county,  40, 41 ;  pre- 
sented by  churchwardens, 
81 

Ducking,  i,  629 

Dudley,  i,  Rev.  Samuel,  185, 
200;  Robert,  601 

Duke,  Henry,  ii,  513 

Duke,  Jane,  i,  266 

Duke  of   York,  ship,  i,  557;    ii, 

509 
Dunbar,   Goring,  or   Gawin,  ii, 

147,  166,  169,  204 
Dunbarton,    ship,    ii,    169,    183, 

207,  208 


Dunkin,     i:    Elizabeth,    284; 

Henry,  284;  John,  284 
Dunn,  Charles,  i,  302 
Dunster,  Rev.  Robert,  i,  18,  173, 

405 
Durand,  Rev.  William,  i,  257 
Dutch,  ii,  3,  193-201,  220,  564, 

585,  606 

Each,  Samuel,  ii,  129,  130 
Eale,  William,  i,  284 
East  India  Company,  ii,  129 
East   India   School,   i,  346-349, 

366 
Eastern  Shore,  i,  150,  175,  199, 
203,  226,  241,  263,  320; 
schoolmasters  of,  296;  pri- 
vate tutors  of,  329;  Dutch 
books  owned  on,  431;  owners 
of  books  on,  430-433;  King's 
attorney,  510;  attorneys  on, 
608;  '  rape  committed  ^  on, 
679;  ii,  arms  and  ammunition 
on,  33;  number  of  Indians  on, 
76;  resort  of  pirates,  207; 
patrolled  against  pirates, 
215,  216;  pirates  escape  to, 
224;  Hundred  on,  290;  not 
part  of  early  corporations, 
292;  assessments  in  favor  of 
Burgesses  from,  443;  people  of, 
allowed  to  pass  by-laws,  515, 
5i6 
Eaton,   i:   John,  433;    Thomas, 

353-356 

Eaton  Free  School,  i,  353-356 

Eborne,  Rev.  Samuel,  i,  chosen 

minister    of    Bruton    Parish, 

134;  fee  for  reading  prayers 

before      General      Assembly, 

161;  illiteracy  of  his  wife,  456 

Edgerton,     i:      Charles,     268; 

Thomas,  415 
Edlowe,  Matthew,  i,  368 
Edmond,  Sir  Thomas,  ii,  269 
Edmonds,  i;  Elias,  424;  Thomas, 

333,  640 
Edmundson,   i,   Thomas,   603; 

William,  241 
Education,  i :  obstacles  in  the  way 
of,  in  Virginia,  293;  popular 
feeling  in  favor  of,  294; 
instances  of  provision  by  will 
for,  295-307;  provisions  for 
education    of    orphans     and 


Index 


655 


Education — Continued 

apprentices,  308-315;  Virgin- 
ians educated  in  England, 
316-322;  tutors,  323-330; 
old  field  schools,  331;  clergy- 
men's schools,  332,  333; 
teachers  licensed,  334;  interest 
shown  by  Nicholson  in,  335- 
337;  supervision  of  teachers, 
337-339;  fees  paid  to  teachers, 
340;  teachers'  rewards,  340- 
342;  school  for  Indians,  344- 
346;  East  India  School,  346- 
349;  free  schools  founded  by 
Symmes  and  Eaton,  350-356; 
other  free  schools,  357,  358; 
Beverley's  reference  to  free 
schools,  359;  Berkeley's  ref- 
erence to  free  schools,  360; 
project  of  Indian  College, 
362;  contributions  for  Indian 
College,  362,  364;  assignment 
of  land  for  Indian  College, 
363,  366,  367;  Indian  Col- 
lege scheme  destroyed  by 
Massacre  of  1622,  369-371; 
projected  College  of  1661, 
372-379;  influences  leading 
to  erection  of  William  and 
Mary  College,  380;  trustees 
appointed  for  the  College,  383 ; 
instructions  given  to  Blair  as 
the  College's  agent  in  Eng- 
land, 385,  386;  endowment 
of  William  and  Mary  College, 
387,  388;  charter  for  the  Col- 
lege obtained,  390;  the  College 
founded,  393;  its  course  of 
instruction,  397;  its  teachers, 
398;  early  exercises  at  the  Col- 
lege, 399;  number  of  libraries 
in  Northern  Neck,  Eastern 
Shore,  and  Lower  Peninsula, 
427-440;  letters,  letter  books, 
and  public  documents  as 
showing  education,  444-449; 
books  written  in  Virginia, 
445,  446;  literacy  of  officials, 
448 ;  degree  of  illiteracy,  450- 
4595  lh  general  comment  on, 
619-622 

Edwards,   ii,   510 

Eggleston,  Benjamin,  ii,  354 

Eland,  George,  i,  355 

Elizabeth  City,  i,  177,  199,  200; 


monthly  court  held  at,  485; 
General  Court  meets  at,  653; 
trials  of  pirates  at,  677,  678, 
704,  705;  ii,  arms  and  ammu- 
nition at,  in  1625,  33;  Spanish 
attack  expected  at,  191;  Col- 
onel Yeo  commands  at,  196; 
pirates  tried  at,  213,  224,  225; 
monthly  court  established  at, 
291 

Elizabeth  City  County,  i,  bas- 
tardy in,  50;  petition  by,  for 
election  of  vestry,  70;  parish 
and  county  levies  in,  in  1692, 
77;  testamentary  provision 
in,  for  education  of  children, 
304;  teacher  in,  recommended 
to  Governor,  337;  free  schools 
|n>  353.  355;  owners  of  books 
in,  439;  records  of,  440;  terms 
of  court  in,  519-521;  treat- 
ment of  pauperism,  544;  citi- 
zens of,  presented,  570;  Sher- 
wood defends  judges  of,  575; 
sheriffs  of,  601 ;  the  use  of  the 
lash  in,  623;  ii,  military  quota 
required  of,  in  1686,  11;  mili- 
tia officers  in,  23,  24;  militia 
of,  reviewed  by  Nicholson,  29; 
provision  by,  for  Indian  march, 
82;  mechanics  impressed  in, 
147;  appoints  a  patrol  against 
pirates,  214;  date  of  forma- 
tion, 294;  how  it  got  its  name, 
298;  assessment  in,  for  bene- 
fit of  the  Burgess,  444;  gen- 
eral assessment  in,  536;  quit- 
rents  of,  farmed  out,  577; 
value  of  quit-rents  in,  579 

Elizabeth  City  Parish,  free  ed- 
ucation in,  i,  351 

Elizabeth,  Queen,  ii,  235 

Elizabeth  River,  i,  52,  99,  100, 
262,  263,  358,  525,  526,  641; 
ii,  160,  219 

Elizabeth  River  Parish,  i,  its 
vestry  meets,  72;  church- 
wardens of,  in  1647,  80; 
attachment  issued  in,  by 
churchwardens,  91;  contract 
of,  with  clergyman  in  1649, 
150;  Rev.  Mr.  Calvert  incum- 
bent of,  210;  its  pulpit  filled 
by  Rev.  Mr.  Harrison,  256; 
by    Rev.   Mr.   Durand,    257; 


656 


Index 


Elizabeth  River  Parish — Con- 
tinued 
planters  residing  in,  employ  a 
teacher,  333 
Elizabeth,  ship,  ii,  147,  179,  196 
Elliott,  Anthony,  ii,  84 
Ellison,  Robert,  i  405,  691 
Emerson,  i:  Elizabeth,  241; 
John,  20;  Nicholas,  241,  525 
Emperor,  Francis,  ii,  571 
Emperor,  Mary,  i,  235,  238 
England,  i,  vestry  introduced 
from,  65;  treatment  of  poor 
in,  as  compared  with  treat- 
ment in  Virginia,  88,  89; 
clergy  drawn  from,  116;  con- 
dition of  clergy  in,  117;  effort 
to  obtain  ministers  from,  124; 
rule  in,  as  to  choice  of  minis- 
ter, 131;  salary  of  a  minister 
in,  143;  effect  of  customs 
in,  on  price  of  Virginia  to- 
bacco, 155;  shipment  of  to- 
bacco to,  1 79  ^property  owned 
in,  by  Virginians,  179;  com- 
parative advantages  enjoyed 
by  clergy  in  Virginia  and, 
183;  first  adventurers  for 
Virginia  leave,  194;  merits  of 
its  clergymen  compared  with 
those  of  the  Virginian,  202; 
supremacy  of  the  Puritans 
in,  257;  panic  in,  due  to 
James  the  Second's  course 
towards  the  Romanists,  269; 
education  of  Virginians  in, 
316-322;  supplied  Virginia 
with  many  tutors,  324;  schools 
of,  at  the  time  of  the  Revolu- 
tion ,351;  interest  felt  in,  in  the 
Indian  College,  364;  interest 
felt  in,  in  Virginia  educational 
institutions,  374,  376;  Blair 
chosen  as  College  agent  to 
visit,  384,  385;  Blair's  pro- 
posed second  visit  to,  395; 
copies  of^  public  documents 
sent  to,  in  bad  shape,  403; 
Fitzhugh  imports  books 
from,  423;  state  of  educa- 
tion in,  442;  illiteracy  of  its 
women,  454,  456;  its  laws  in 
force  in  Virginia,  464-469; 
legal  procedure  of,  adopted  in 
Virginia   only   partially,    555, 


556;  legal  questions  arising 
in  Virginia  submitted  to 
English  Attorney-General, 
568;  proposal  to  send  English 
lawyers  to  Virginia,  571; 
sheriff's  court  in,  597;  crimi- 
nal law  in,  compared  with 
Virginian,  611-616;  Virginians 
educated  at  English  inns-of- 
court,  660;  jurors  in,  666; 
deposers  of  Governor  Harvey 
sent  to,  674;  Admiralty  Court 
in,  676;  Virginian  murderers 
sent  to,  for  trial,  680;  ii, 
powder  imported  into  Vir- 
ginia from,  42;  military  arti- 
cles obtained  from,  44;  arms 
fixed  in,  48;  mechanics  to  be 
obtained  in,  for  Virginia,  130, 
132;  plat  of  fort  at  Point  Com- 
fort sent  to  England,  136; 
Francis  Pott  returns  to,  139; 
Morryson  absent  in,  145;  at 
war  with  Holland,  179;  guard- 
ship  arrives  from,  188;  provi- 
sions procured  from,  189; 
pirates  to  be  sent  to,  206; 
history  of,  affected  by  charter 
of  1606,  230,  232;  hopes  for, 
involved  in  the  colonization 
of  Virginia,  237,  242-245; 
struggle  in,  with  James  the 
First,  243,  244;  effort  in,  to 
revive  London  Company, 
259;  failure  of  Parliamentary 
Government  in,  during  the 
Protectorate,  263;  Boards  in, 
that  controlled  Virginia,  267- 
272;  the  Civil  Wars  in,  274- 
276;  how  far  Virginia's 
territorial  divisions  obtained 
from,  287-294;  Culpeper  re- 
turns to,  304,  312;  agents  sent 
to,  in  1675,  332;  tobacco 
imported  into,  341 ;  who  was  a 
citizen  of,  366;  councillors 
visit,  382;  William  Claiborne 
born  in,  392;  right  of  suffrage 
in,  410,  411;  influence  of 
land-owners  in,  424;  class 
represented  in  Parliament, 
435 ;  iron  work  procured  from, 
460;  laws  of,  applied  in  Vir- 
ginia, 482;  condition  of,  in 
Cromwell's    time,    490;    laws 


Index 


657 


England — Continued 

of  Virginia  sent  to,  for  ap- 
proval, 503;  Virginia  has 
agents  in,  519-521;  weights 
obtained  from,  536;  Auditor- 
General  residing  in,  578;  ser- 
vants from,  exempted  from 
impost,  583;  collection  of 
customs  in,  595;  Auditor- 
General  in,  598;  resemblance 
of  Virginia  to,  606  et  seq. 

English,  John,  ii,  55 

English,  Susan,  i,  297 

Engobreitson,    Bartholomew,    i, 

525 
Epidemic,  i,  17,  18;  ii,  487,  488 
Eppes,  Francis,  i,  23,  160,  418; 

w  ",  55,  94 

Essex  County,  i,  bastardy  in, 
49;  testamentary  provision  in, 
for  education,  301,  306;  edu- 
cation of  apprentices  in,  314; 
private  tutors  in,  328;  own- 
ers of  books  in,  407,  429; 
number  of  justices  in,  494; 
terms  of  court  in,  519-521; 
judges  of,  fined  for  absences, 
523;  court-house  in,  531; 
receives  Acts  of  Assembly, 
558;  its  bar,  581;  sheriffs  of, 
601;  constables  of,  602;  in- 
quests in,  604;  whipping  posts 
in,  626;  ii,  assessment  in, 
for  benefit  of  the  Burgess,  444; 
levy  in,  538;  levies  in,  567,  568 
Essex   Prize,  ship,  ii,   186,  211, 

221,  224 
Evans,  i,  John,  397;  Valentine, 

341;  William,  631 
Evelyn,  Robert,  ii,  370 
Everett,  i,  John,  340,  568,  576; 

Robert,  103 
Ewell,  James,  i,  537,  538 
Exchequer  Court,  i,  706 
Experiment,  ship,  i,  510,  511 


Fail,  John,  i,  528 

Fairfax,  i,  13;  ii,  580 

Fairfield,  i,   535 

Fairfield     Parish,    i,     provision 

for  building  churches  in,  100; 

levy  for  benefit  of   clergyman 

of,  152 
Falling  Creek,  i,  346 


Falls    of    the    Appomattox,    ii, 

100,  102 

Falls  of  James  River,  ii,  94,  100, 

101,  102,   105,  127,  288,   297 
298 

Farnefold,  Rev.  John,  i,  reim- 
bursed for  improper  tax,  151; 
his  salary  in  1679,  152;  chosen 
trustee  of  William  and  Mary 
College,  383 

Farrar,  John,  i,  601,  603;  ii,  24, 

444 

Farrar,  William,  i,  418,  639;  ii, 
55;  see  Ferrer 

Farrar's  Island,  ii,  292 

Fast  Days,  i,  15  et  seq. 

Fauntleroy,  i,  Moore,  408;  Wil- 
liam, 428 

Fawsett,  John,  i,  456,  570 

Feiger,  William,  i,  566 

Feild,  Peter,  i,  491 

Felgate,  Philip,  i,  411;  ii,  53 

Felgate,  Robert,  i,  529;  ii,  137 

Fenn,  i,  John,  36;    Samuel,  26, 

299 

Ferrer,  John,  i,  7 

Ferrer,    Nicholas,   i,    6,   364;   ii, 

245;  see  Farrar 
Finch,  Captain,  ii,  185 
Fines,  i,  99 
Finny,  Robert,  i,  698 
Fisher,  Jeremiah,  i,  434 
Fitzgerald,  Gerard,  ii,  169 
Fitzhardinge,  Lord,  i,  589 
Fitzhugh,  Henry,  i,  407 
Fitzhugh,  William,  i,  his  piety, 
21 ;  refers  to  need  of  clergymen 
in    Virginia,     124;    refers    to 
salaries     of     ministers,     154; 
letter  books  of,  317,  444;  his 
son  educated  by  a  Huguenot 
pastor,     322;     suggested     for 
trusteeship    of    the    College, 
382;    bequeaths  books  to   his 
sons,     407;     owns     numerous 
books,  422;  his  culture,  443; 
projected  history  of  Virginia, 
446;     discusses     question    of 
Habeas  Corpus,  467-472 ;  com- 
ments on  Virginian  laws,  469, 
470;    fees    for    legal   services, 
567 ;  inquires  about  law  society 
at  Jamestown,  569;  letter  to 
Leigh,  579;    praises  Beverley 
as  a  lawyer,  580;  member  of 


658 


Index 


Fitzhugh,  William — Continued 
Stafford  bar,  582;  letter  re- 
specting appeals,  694;  ii, 
supplies  Potomac  garrison 
with  food,  in,  112;  mentions 
salary  of  the  Councillor,  377; 
impeached  by  the  Assembly, 
477;  estimates  the  amount  of 
revenue  from  tobacco  tax, 
587;  influence  possessed  by, 
610 

Fitzhugh  William,  Jr.,  i,  407 

Fleet,  Henry,  ii,  84 

Fleetwood,  John,  i,  36 

Fletcher,  ii,  468 

Fleur  de  Hundred,  i,  199;  ii,  131 
290,  427 

Flint,  Thomas,  ii,  16 

Flood,  Walter,  i,  319 

Florida,  ii,  220 

Floyd,  John,  ii,  55 

Foisin,  John,  i,  419;  ii,  56 

Foliott,  Edward,  i,  407 

Foorth,  John,  i,  627 

Foote,  Thomas,  i,  166 

Forby,  Thomas,  i,  234 

Ford,  George,  i,  309 

Fordyce,    Rev.    Francis,    i,    200 

Forts,  ii,  established  in  1646, 
against  Indian  attacks,  101; 
in  1676,  102;  in  1679,  108- 
110;  erected,  to  repel  foreign 
invasion,  123  et  seq.,i$o  et  seq., 
163  et  seq., 

Forts,  ii,  Albany,  94;  Algernon, 
126;  Charles,  100;  Grindall, 
100;  James,  100,  101,  163; 
Royall,  100-102 

Fort  Henry,  i,  527;  ii,  101 

Fort  Point  Comfort,  ii,  first 
erected,  126;  its  character 
after  Dale's  departure,  128; 
condition  of,  in  1626,  132; 
site  for  new  structure  sur- 
veyed, 136;  constructed  by 
Samuel  Mathews,  137;  first 
officers  in  command,  138, 
139,  140;  duties  collected  at, 
141,  143,  144;  ordered  to  be 
restored,  146;  objected  to  by 
the  colonists,  146-149;  left  to 
go  to  ruin,  151,  152;  mer- 
chants favored  retention  of, 
I57_I59.  l6l» l62;  Captain  of, 
appointed  by  the  King,  323; 


fees  paid  for  support  of,  346; 
rumored  plot  for  capture  of, 
355;  fund  for  building,  451 

Foster,  i,  622;  ii,  12 

Fouace,  Rev.  Stephen,  i,  sermon 
before  General  Assembly,  17; 
his  fee  for  funeral  sermon,  161 ; 
chosen  trustee  of  the  College, 
383;  gift  to  the  College,  395 

Fountain,  Roger,  i,  412 

Fowke,  i,  Gerard,  583;  Thomas, 
66 

Fowler,  Bartholomew,  i,  576, 
689;  ii,  314,  513 

Fowler,  George,  i,  415 

Fowlkes,  Thomas,  ii,  448,  481 

Fox,  Captain,  ii,  279 

Fox,  David,  i,  466,  507,  601, 
603;  ii,  466 

Fox,  George,  i,  241 

Foxcroft,  Isaac,  i,  487,  577 

Foxon,  Peter,  i,  327 

Franc,  Cornelius,  i,  677;  ii,  225 

Francis,  Rebecca,  i,  311 

Franklin,  Benjamin,  ii,  232 

Free  Schools,  i,  School  for 
Indians,  344-346;  East  In- 
dia School,  346-349;  Symmes 
School,  350-352,  3555  Eaton 
School,  353-356;  provision 
made  for,  by  John  Moore, 
357;  by  Richard  Russell,  357, 
358;  by  Mr.  King,  358;  by 
Peasley,  358;  by  Pritchard, 
358;  by  Gordon,  358;  Bever- 
ley's reference  to,  359;  Ber- 
keley's reference  to,  360,  361 

French,  i,  247;  ii,  46,  94,  166, 
180,  192,  606 

French's  Ordinary,  i,  529 

Fulcher,  Thomas,  i,  491 

Fulford,  John,  i,  35 

Fulgham,  Michael,  i,  304 

Fullard,  John,  i,  408 

Fullogh,  James,  i,  417 

Funeral  Services,  i,  1 59-1 61 

Gaines,  Bernard,  i,  314 
Gale,  Henry,  ii,  49 
Gannock,  William,  i,  270 
Gardiner,  Thomas,  ii,  447 
Garrett,  ii,  55 
Gascoigne,  Robert,  i,  301 
Gaskins,  i,  Anne,  622;  Samuel, 
524 


Index 


659 


Gates,  Sir  Thomas,  i,  146,  472- 
474,  651;  ii,  301,  312,  335,  405, 
562 
Geddes,  Andrew,  i,  439 
General  Assembly,  see  Assembly 
General  Court,  i,  gives  instruc- 
tions for  election  of  vestry, 
66;  receives  the  plate  of  St. 
Mary's  church,  109;  receives 
petition  from  Rev.  Mr.  Hamp- 
ton, 164;  decides  in  favor  of 
Rev.  Mr.  Panton,  209;  re- 
views case  of  Rev.  Mr.  Gray, 
214;  punishes  schismatics, 
215;  orders  trial  of  charges 
against  Rev.  Mr.  Doughty, 
219;  punishes  for  heretical 
opinions,  221;  Quakers  ar- 
raigned before,  222,  235;  re- 
quires Quaker  missionaries  to 
leave  Virginia,  226;  prohibits 
importation  of  Quakers,  228; 
fines  Quakers  for  opprobrious 
language,  245;  sustains  mili- 
tary assessment  of  Quakers, 
247;  a  papist  summoned  be- 
fore, 267;  appeal  to,  about 
Roman  Catholic  lawyers,  273; 
investigates  charges  against 
Edward  Hill,  277;  appeal  of 
Hawkins  Snead  to, 3 14;  allows 
court-house  at  Jamestown  to 
be  used  by  County  Justices, 
336;  condemns  proceedings 
against  Harvey,  465;  how 
far  jurisdiction  of,  modified 
by  Monthly  Court,  484,  485; 
punishes  a  disobedient  County 
Judge,  506;  punishes  persons 
reflecting  on  county  court, 
512;  asked  to  issue  a  warrant, 
513;  discourages  adj  ournments 
of  county  courts,  523;  right 
of  appeal  to,  541 ;  fixes  criminal 
jurisdiction  of  Monthly  Court, 
542 ;  right  of,  to  grant  letters 
of  administration,  547;  in- 
structs Attorney-General, 
571;  the  Drummond  case  in, 
574;  Sherwood  appears  in, 
574;  all  letters  of  adminis- 
tration reported  to,  589; 
trials  in,  606;  tries  a  negro, 
625;  passes  sentence  for  adul- 
tery, 629;  prisoners  tried  by, 


633;  its  early  history,  647- 
651 ;  its  place  of  meeting,  653- 
655;  date  and  length  of  terms, 
655-659;  its  composition,  660; 
competency  of  members  from 
a  legal  point  of  view,  661- 
664;  jurisdiction  in  felonies, 
665-667;  procedure  in  a  mur- 
der case,  667-671;  writ  of 
Oyer  and  Terminer  issued  by, 
671-673;  tries  the  Plant- 
cutters,  675;  punishes  piracy, 
676-678 ;  punishes  rape, 679 ;  no 
appeal  from,  in  criminal  cases, 
680;  interprets  Acts  of  Assem- 
bly, 681;  requires  lower  courts 
to  reconsider  decisions,  682; 
appellate  jurisdiction  of,  682, 
683;  statutes  relating  to  right 
of  appeal  to,  685,  686;  princi- 
pal officers  of,  687-689;  ap- 
peal to  General  Assembly 
from,  690-696;  Judges  of, 
act  as  Circuit  Justices,  496- 
499;  jurisdiction  of,  in  ad- 
miralty cases,  697,  698;  ii, 
Richard  Bickley  tried  by,  5; 
tries  a  naval  officer,  141; 
slanderers  of  the  Governor 
required  to  appear  in,  354; 
Council  sits  as,  in  case  of 
charge  against  a  Councillor, 
372;  gives  a  summons  the 
binding  force  of  a  writ,  384; 
where  it  met,  389,  402;  privi- 
leges enjoyed  by  clergymen 
preaching  before,  565 

George,  Thomas,  ^428,  580 

Gerrard,  Thomas,  i,  301 

Gethering,  John,  i,  576 

Gibson,  i,  Alexander,  404; 
Thomas,  405 

Gilham,  John,  i,  412 

Gill,  Benjamin,  ii,  169 

Gilson,  John,  i,  428 

Gisburne,  John,  i,  286 

Glasscock,  i,  Deborah,  51; 
Thomas,  68 

Glebe,  i,  size  of,  in  1619,  163; 
in  1639,  164;  situation  of, 
164;  sale  of,  164;  size  of,  in 
1662,  165;  devises  for  a,  by 
citizens,  166;  when  vacant 
rented  out  or  cultivated  by 
vestry,     166;     condition     of, 


66o 


Index 


Glebe — Continued 

about  1695,  167;  stocked 
with  cattle  by  private  persons, 
167;  controversy  about,  in 
1695,  168,  169 
Gloucester  County,  i,  sabbath 
observance  in,  35;  no  vacant 
pulpits  in,  in  1680,  124; 
salaries  of  clergymen  in,  in 
1683,  153;  removal  of  school- 
master from,  339;  provision 
for  free  school  in,  358;  pro- 
posed as  site  for  William  and 
Mary  College,  381,  392; 
printing-press  in,  402;  records 
of,  440;  court-house  of,  534; 
citizens  of,  prosecuted,  570; 
ii,  military  quota  required  of, 
1 1 ;  militia  officers  in,  24 ;  troops 
in,  held  in  readiness,  166; 
warned  of  pirates'  presence, 
218;  judges  of,  criticized  by 
Francis  Willis,  502;  people  of, 
allowed  to  pass  by-laws,  515; 
quit-rents  of,  farmed  out,  578; 
value  of  quit-rents  in,  579 
Glover,      i,      Rev.     Mr.,     197; 

Richard,  326 
Glover,  William,  i,  576,  639;  ii, 

48 
Goare,  Samuel,  ii,  563 
Godacres,  Joseph,  i,  527 
Godby,  Anne,  i,  238,  281 
Goddin,  Isaac,  i,  34 
Godfry,    i,   John   18;    Thomas, 

552 
Godson,  Elizabeth,  i,  320 
Godwin,  Devereux,  i,  22 
Godwin,  Thomas,  ii,  355 
Godwyn,  Rev.  Morgan,  i,  con- 
demns lay  priests,    127;    at- 
tacks the  vestries,  135,    136; 
his  statement  about  Virginia 
clergy  controverted,  183;  an- 
tecedents of,  200;  reflections 
by,  on  Virginia  clergy  due  to 
his  puritanic  spirit,  206 
Gondomar,  ii,  244 
Goode,  John,  i,  34;  ii,  63 
Goodrich,  ii,  466 
Goodrich,  John,  i,  417;  ii,  25 
Goodrich,  Thomas,  i,  31,  299 
Goodwyn,  James,  i,  438 
Goodwyn,  Thomas,  ii,  25 
Gookin,  Daniel,  i,  255 


Gordon,  i,  Thomas,  36;  William, 

358 
Goring,  Charles,  i,  337 
Gorsuch,  Rev.  John,  i,  179 
Gosling,  John,  i,  434 
Gosnold,  Bartholomew,  ii,  368, 

369 
Gourdon,  Rev.  John,  i,  214 
Governor,  i,  right  of,  to  induct 
clergymen,  131,  132;  in  in- 
ducting, required  first  to  have 
vestry's  consent,  138;  tenants 
attached  to  lands  of,  163; 
supervises  glebe  lands,  164; 
teachers  recommended  to,  for 
license  by  county  courts, 
337;  appoints  justices^  487; 
how  influenced  in  appointing 
justices,  489-492;  exercises 
discretion  in  appointing 
justices,  504;  right  to  expel 
justice  from  county  court, 
505;  appoints  clerks  of 
county  courts,  588;  designates 
sheriffs,  594;  serves  as  Presi- 
dent of  General  Court,  660; 
effect  of  his  participation  in  a 
decision  of  county  court,  684; 
ii,  approval  of  a  commander's 
nomination  required  of,  20; 
commander-in-chief,  27  -  29 ; 
designates  custodians  of  arms, 
48;  authorizes  the  sum- 
moning of  the  militia,  93; 
reports  as  to  militia  meetings 
sent  to,  95;  issues  warrant  to 
impress  soldiers,  117;  directs 
movements  of  the  Rangers, 
118,  119;  guard  attending,  to 
be  used  as  a  garrison  for 
Jamestown,  145;  hires  a 
vessel,  179;  authorized  to 
send  pirates  to  England,  218; 
powers  of,  in  1621,  249;  rela- 
tion to  Bermuda  Hundreds, 
289;  how  appointed,  300-309; 
length  of  his  term,  310,  311; 
his  inauguration,  312-314;  his 
powers,  320-328;  important 
duties  of,  328-330;  required 
to  reside  in  Virginia,  332,  333; 
his  official  home^  335-339; 
his  remuneration  in  time  of 
the  Company,  340,  341;  his 
salary  in  1637,  343;  public  re- 


Index 


661 


Governor — Continued 

gard  for  honor  of  the  office 
of,  344;  how  salary  of,  col- 
lected in  1654,  346;  his  salary 
in  1662,  348;  at  end  of 
the  century,  350;  attended 
by  a  bodyguard,  352,  353; 
punishment  for  reflecting  on, 
354.  355;  for  deposing,  355- 
357;  could  remove  Councillor 
in  his  own  discretion  after 
1676,  372;  issues  summons  for 
a  Councillor,  384;  approves 
election  of  Speaker,  469;  re- 
commends the  messenger  for 
the  Assembly,  475;  instructed 
in  1660  to  call  the  Burgesses 
together,  491;  grants  to,  498; 
power  of,  inWyatt'stime,  500; 
where  he  sat,  501;  issues 
proclamations  in  annulment 
of  Acts,  506 ;  London  Company 
paid  salary  of,  522 ;  salary  of, 
535;  exempted  from  taxation, 
565 ;  disburses  quit-rents  with 
the  King's  approval,  580; 
salary  of,  585 

Governor  and  Council,  i,  ap- 
peals to,  about  parishes,  59; 
order  election  of  vestries,  69; 
orders  about  churches,  98,  99; 
petitioned  about  repair  of  Ja- 
mestown church  in  1699,  107; 
appeal  by,  to  Bishop  of  Lon- 
don in  1680,  124;  impowered 
to  suspend  minister,  1 35 ;  state- 
ment by,  about  clergymen's 
condition  in  1691,  155;  fix 
the  salary  of  clergymen  in 
l695»  157;  present  at  clergy's 
annual  assembly  at  James- 
town, 187;  receive  complaint 
of  Rev.  Mr.  Thompson,  190; 
thank  the  London  Company 
for  zealous  clergyman,  199; 
impowered  to  punish  clergy- 
men, 204;  complaint  to,  by 
Rev.  Mr.  Gregg,  213;  re- 
quest made  by,  about  the 
French  and  Walloon  Protes- 
tants, 217;  opinion  of,  as  to 
conferences  with  Quakers,  229 ; 
summon  Quakers  before  them; 
231;  order  Quakers  to  report 
their  places  of  meeting,  250; 


condemn  justices  as  seditious 
sectaries,  258;  denounce  Pa- 
pists in  1629,  265;  order  cer- 
tain Papists  to  appear  before 
them,  272;  request  informa- 
tion about  London  appren- 
tices in  Virginia,  315;  petition 
of  Hugh  Campbell  to,  333; 
letter  of,  about  East  India 
School,  349;  approve  claim  for 
education  of  an  Indian  boy, 
365;  required  to  see  to  the 
completion  of  the  Indian 
College,  369;  consider  design 
of  College  in  1690,  381 ;  invited 
to  witness  laying  of  the 
foundation  stone  of  William 
and  Mary  College,  393;  sum- 
mon a  printer  before  them, 
403;  enlarge  number  of 
county  court  judges,  494; 
appealed  to  by  county  judges 
when  insulted,  511;  endeavor 
to  arrest  Captain  Jennings, 
511;  require  justices  to  corn- 
form  to  English  legal  pro- 
cedure, 554;  discourage  the 
elimination  of  attorneys,  565; 
oppose  the  diversion  of  the 
liquor  tax,  637;  ii,  list  of 
persons  fit  for  military  service 
returnable  to,  9;  report  to, 
by  commander,  19;  report 
by,  on  munitions,  34;  order 
by,  to  impress  powder,  51; 
adopt  order  about  smiths,  58; 
reports  to,  about  Indian 
march,  85;  authorized  to 
raise  and  disband  the  Rangers, 
120,  121;  inspect  site  for  a 
fort  at  Blunt  Point,  130; 
ordered  to  finish  the  fort  at 
Point  Comfort,  146,  147; 
oppose  its  construction,  147, 
157.  I58;  order  a  report  on 
the  powder  in  private  hands, 
168;  pronounce  the  forts  to 
be  useless,  174-177;  in- 
structed to  put  Colony  in  a 
state  of  defence  against  the 
Dutch,  198;  order  lookout 
for  pirate  ship,  214;  report 
as  to  pirates'  presence  to  be 
made  to,  214;  form  part  of 
General    Assembly    in    1619, 


662 


Index 


Governor  and  Council — Con- 
tinued 
246;  appointed  in  the  begin- 
ning by  the  Company,  249; 
subject  to  resident  Council 
in  England,  256;  heavy  duties 
of,  in  1626,  257;  appointed  by 
the  King  after  1624,  259; 
elected  by  the  Burgesses 
during  the  Protectorate,  263; 
relations  with  the  English 
Boards  of  Control,  268,  269; 
required  to  report  on  the 
general  condition  of  the  Col- 
ony periodically,  330;  at- 
tended by  a  bodyguard,  352, 
353;  claim  right  to  lay  tax, 
375,  376;  grant  use  of  a  room 
for  clerk  of  the  Assembly,  389 ; 
powers  of,  previous  to,  1619, 
404,  405;  proclaim  the  re- 
moval of  the  capital  to  Wil- 
liamsburg, 461;  had  no  voice 
in  election  of  Speaker,  468; 
Beverley  declines  to  deliver 
to,  a  copy  of  the  journal,  473; 
required  to  instruct  Attorney- 
General  of  Virginia,  507;  right 
to  lay  a  tax,  524-530;  peti- 
tioned by  George  Bruce,  566 

Gower,  Abell,  i,  604 

Grady,  Katharine,  i,  281,  697 

Graft,  i,  325 

Grand  Jury,  i,  605-609 

Granger,  Nicholas,  i,  297 

Gray,  i,  Richard,  341;  Rev. 
Samuel,  213,  214 

Grays,  Thomas,  ii,  137 

Green  Plantation,  i,  392 

Green  Spring,  i,  617;  ii,  42,  327, 

336,  337,  353,  389,  455,  457 
Green,  William,  i,  414 
Greene,  Peter,  ii,  278 
Gregg,  Rev.  Stephen,  i,  212 
Gregory,  Rev.  John,  i,  200 
Gregson,  Thomas,  i,  580 
Grievances,  ii,  480-483 
Griffin,     i,     Elizabeth,     626; 

Thomas,  300,  301 
Griffin,  Leroy,  ii,  25 
Griffith,  William,  ii,  225 
Griggs,  Robert,  i,  26 
Grimes,  William,  i,  436 
Grindall's  Fort,  ii,  100 
Grocer's  Adventure,  ship,  i,  538 


Guardians,  i,  309,  310 
Gullock,  Robert,  ii,  55 
Gwyn,  Rev.  John,  i,   180,  200, 
577 

Habeas  Corpus,  i,  467 

Hack,  George  Nicholas,  i,  270, 
271,673 

Hackett,  Thomas,  i,  424 

Haddon,  Francis,  i,  437 

Hagar,  i,  77 

Haines,  Richard,  i,  618 

Halfway  House,  i,  529 

Hall,  i,  Christopher,  629;  Ed- 
ward, 52;  Nathaniel,  339 

Hallows,  John,  ii,  21 

Hallstead,  Henry,  i,  302 

Hammond,  Mainwaring,  ii,  21 

Hammond,  William,  i,  205,  478, 
479,  610 

Hamor,  Ralph,  i,  4 

Hampton,  i,    109 

Hampton  Academy,  i,  356 

Hampton  Parish,  i,  78,  511;  ii, 

49 

Hampton  River,  ii,  33 

Hampton,  Rev.  Thomas,  i, 
petitions  for  additional  glebe 
lands,  164;  owns  land,  178; 
referred  to,  200;  his  antece- 
dents, 201 ;  charges  against, 
210 

Hanbrom,  William,  i,  415 

Hanby,  John,  ii,  171 

Hanging,  i,  616-618 

Hangman,  i,  616-618 

Hankings,  George,  i,  31 

Hanning,  John,  ii,  354 

Hansford,  i,  Charles,  407,  439, 
572;  Henry,  407 

Hansford,  Thomas,  i,  325,  529; 
ii,  282 

Harding,  i,  Thomas,  415,  525; 
William,  280,  288 

Harman,  ii,  Teague,  55;  Wil- 
liam, 26 

Harmanson,  Thomas,  i,  59,  577 

Harper,  i,  Robert,  305;  Thomas, 
428 

Harris,  i,  Charles,  580;  Eliza- 
beth, 226;  John,  340,  342, 
424 

Harris  Plantation,  ii,  101 

Harrison,  Benjamin  (Senior  and 
Junior),  i,  382,  383,  445,  576, 


Index 


663 


Harrison,  Benjamin — Continued 
601,  689;  ii,  25,  360,  362,  513, 
550,  554 

Harrison,  George,  ii,  335 

Harrison,  Joseph,  i,  620 

Harrison,  Rev.  Thomas,  i, 
chosen  minister  in  Lower 
Norfolk  county,  132;  con- 
tract of  church  with,  149; 
performs  burial  service,  160; 
vacates  his  pulpit,  166;  ap- 
pointed chaplain  of  Henry- 
Cromwell,  201,  257;  indicted 
by  grand  jury,  221 ;  converted 
to  Puritanism,  255;  compelled 
to  leave  Virginia,  256 

Hartwell,  Henry,  i,  educates  his 
nephew  in  England,  322; 
chosen  trustee  of  the  Col- 
lege, 382,  383;  his  gift  to  the 
College,  396;  joint  author  of 
a  Virginia  pamphlet,  468; 
Fitzhugh  writes  to,  569;  criti- 
cises General  Court,  660-663; 
his  advice  about  General 
Court,  696;  ii,  disparages  the 
Council,  363;  refers  to  the 
Councillors'  non-liability  to 
arrest,  383,  384;  estimates 
amount  of  the  Secretary's 
salary,  401;  refers  to  sheriffs 
of  Virginia,  577;  estimates 
value  of  Virginia  quit-rents, 
579;  refers  to  the  Treasurer 
of  Virginia,  604 

Harvard  College,  i,  350 

Harvard,  John,  i,  350 

Harvey,  Governor,  i,  contrib- 
utes to  fund  for  erection 
of  church  at  Jamestown,  101; 
controversy  with  Rev.  Mr. 
Panton,  208-209;  Pan  ton 
criticises,  465;  deposed,  674; 
ii,  his  deposition,  64;  questions 
reliability  of  Indians,  72; 
reports  on  peninsula  palisade, 
99;  urges  restoration  of  fort 
at  Point  Comfort,  135,  136; 
displaces  Francis  Pott  as 
commander  of  fort  at  Point 
Comfort,  139;  appoints  Chris- 
topher Wormeley  Command- 
er, 139;  levies  a  general  tax, 
140;  his  instructions  _  signed 
by    the    Privy   Council,    267; 


removed  by  his  Council,  304; 
designated    as   Yeardley's 
successor,     305;     returns     to 
Virginia     after     his     deposi- 
tion, 313;   dispute   as    to    his 
powers    as    Governor,      317, 
318;  uses  his  right  of  procla- 
mation improperly,  324;  owns 
his  house  at  Jamestown,  335, 
336;   urges  a  better  support 
of  the  Governor's  office,  341, 
342;    estimates    the    amount 
needed   by   the   Governor   in 
going  to  Virginia,   343;    inci- 
dents of  his  deposition,  355- 
357;    swears    in    Councillors, 
370;  disputes  the  claims  of  his 
Councillors,  374;  explains  the 
deduction    in    the  Secretary's 
income,  400;  writes  about  the 
new    State-House,  452;    first 
State-House    belonged    to, 
452;     referred    to,     480;    the 
King's  offer  to  buy  the  tobacco 
of  Virginia    in  time  of,   489; 
describes  the  Virginians,  490; 
makes    a    suggestion    to    the 
Privy  Council,  503 
Harvey,  Valentine,  i,  312 
Harwood,  George,  ii,  354 
Hastell,.  Edward,  i,  35 
Hastry,  Jane,  i,  23 
Hatcher,  Edward,  i,  271;  ii,  95 
Hatcher,  William,  i,  114,  277 
Hatton,    i,   William,    511,   512; 

John,  491 
Hawkins,  i,  Thomas,  313;   Wil- 
liam, 309 
Hawley,  ii,  Gabriel,  603;  Jerome, 

393.  592,  603 
Hayes,  Robert,  1,  524,  555;     11, 

436 
Hayti,  ii,  220 
Heard,  Walter,  i,  266,  424 
Heath,  Sir  Robert,  ii,  254 
Heather,  William,  i,  270 
Heighram,  Deborah,  i,  52 
Hellier,  Thomas,  i,  329 
Hening,  William  W.,  ii,  295 
Henrico    Corporation,    ii,    291, 

292,  427 
Henrico  County,  i,  drunkenness 
in,    40,  41;    profanity    in,  42, 
44;  bastardy  in,    49;    an    In- 
dian  resident  of,    77;   vacant 


664 


Index 


Henrico  County — Continued 
pulpits  in,  in  1680,  124;  cost 
of  a  funeral  sermon  in,  160; 
Blair  buys  land  in,  181;  a 
horse-race  in,  207;  Mr.  Ball 
rector  in,  in  1684,  211;  John 
Pleasants  a  citizen  of,  242; 
Quaker  meeting  house  in, 
245;  Quakers'  attitude  tow- 
ards military  service  in, 
246;  education  of  apprentices 
in,  313;  exempts  a  teacher 
from  taxation,  339;  owners 
of  books  residing  in,  406, 
407,  409,  418-420;  records  of, 
440;    parish    court   in,     482; 

1  first  monthly  court  in,  486; 
how  often  judges'  commis- 
sion renewed  in,  488;  ap- 
pointment of  judges  in,  491, 
492;  judges  lacking  in,  495; 
William  Byrd,  Sr.,  presides  in 
court  of,  502;  terms  of  its 
court,  520,  521;  court-houses 
in,  527,  528;  monthly  court 
established  in,  541;  lawyers 
at  bar  of,  576;  sheriffs  of,  601 ; 
precincts  in,  602;  coroners 
of,  603;  inquests  in,  604;  a 
hanging  in,  616;  ducking  stool 
in,  630;  charge  for  prisoner 
in,  646;  rape  inf>  679;  ii, 
military  quota  required  of,  in 
1686,  1 1 ;  militia  officers  in,  23  ; 
fear  in,  of  Indian  outbreak, 
75;  provision  in,  for  Indian 
march,  91,  94;  rumor  in,  of 
Indian  murders,  95;  soldiers 
enlisted  in,  100;  rangers  fur- 
nished by,  for  frontier  service, 
115  et  seq.;  date  of  formation, 
294;  had  no  western  bounda- 
ries at  first,  297;  origin  of  its 
name,  298;  number  of  Bur- 
gesses from,  428;  fined  for 
neglecting  to  elect  a  Burgess, 
430;  boat  charges  in,  for 
Burgesses,  444;  where  public 
grievances  received  in,  484; 
general  assessments  in,  537; 
refuses  to  exempt  slave  from 
taxation,  564;  levies  in,  567, 
568;  quit- rents  of,  farmed  out; 
577  value  of  quit-rents  in,  579 

Henrico  Parish,  i,  112 


Henricopolis,  i,  98,  198,  363;   ii, 

128,  131,  292,  298 
Henry,    Patrick,    ii,    231,    232, 

533 

Henry,  Prince  of  Wales,  ii,  124, 
127,  298 

Henry  Prize,  ship,  ii,  184 

Hewes,  Robert,  i,  481 

Heyman,  Peter,  ii,  221,  223, 
325,  593 

Heyrick,  Thomas,  ii,  137 

Heyward,  John,  i,  434 

Hicks,  Robert,  i,  397 

Higby,  i,  Rev.  Thomas,  147,  184; 
Rev.  Willis,  178 

Higginson,  ii,  382 

Higgleby,  John,  i,  86 

Higgs,  John,  i,  340 

Highways,  i,  114 

Hill,  ii,  513 

Hill,  Edward,  i,  charged  with 
atheism,  277;  goes  the  cir- 
cuit as  a  Councillor,  497, 
499;  Attorney-General,  688; 
judge  of  Admiralty  Court, 
702;  president  of  the  court 
trying  pirates,  705;  ii,  officer 
of  militia,  24,  25;  supplies 
arms,  36;  commander  in  an 
Indian  march,  94;  inspects 
fort  at  Jamestown,  172;  joins 
in  report  on  fortifications,  174; 
serves  in  the  Council,  365; 
petitions  the  Board  of  Trade, 
378;  reviser  of  the  Acts,  511; 
names  a  deputy  collector, 
593  J  appointed  Treasurer,  604 

Hill,  i,  John,  80;  Nathaniel,  22, 
419;  Samuel,  272 

Hinson,  John,  ii,  209 

Hobbs  Hole,  i,  642 

Hobson,  Thomas,  ii,  89 

Hockaday,  William,  i,  575 

Hodge,  Robert,  i,  22 

Hodges,  i,  Edward,  412;    John, 

398 
Hodgkin,  William,  i,  160 
Hodgson,  Robert,  i,  226 
Hog  Island,  i,  100,  190;  ii,  33 
Holcroft,  John,  i,  575 
Holden,    i,     Charles,    510,    570, 

57i»577»6o8;  Christopher,  226 
Holland,  i,   179,  321,  325,  413; 

ii,  219 
Holland,  Thomas,  i,  439 


Index 


665 


Hollier,  Simon,  i,  439 

Holloway,  John,  i,  22,  160,  408, 
430,  626;  ii,  53 

Holmes,  i,  Richard,  481; 
Thomas,  481-482,  639 

Holt,  i,  Randall,  190;  Rev.  Jo- 
seph, 200 

Hone,  Theophilus,  ii,  156 

Hook,  Francis,  ii,  139 

Hooton,  Elizabeth,  i,  227 

Hope,  George,  i,  310 

Hopegood,  Peter,  i,  320 

Hopkins,  Rev.  George,  i,  172, 
173,  200,  433 

Hoppin,  Arthur,  i,  408 

Homes,  the,  i,  578 

Horsey,  Stephen,  i,  511 

Horton,  William,  i,  566,  583 

Hough,  Francis,  ii,  83 

Houghing,  John,  i,  677;  ii,  225 

Housdon,  Rev.  William,  i,  200 

Howard,  Governor,  i,  instruc- 
tions of,  126;  authorized  to 
collate  to  benefices,  131; 
proclaims  declaration  of  lib- 
erty of  conscience,  244;  re- 
proves Colonel  Scarborough, 
268 ;  instructed  about  teachers, 
334;  his  proclamation  to 
teachers  in  1686,334;  teachers 
required  by,  to  pay  a  fee, 
339;  absent  from  Virginia, 
381;  forbids  use  of  printing 
press  in  Virginia,  403;  denies 
right  of  Habeas  Corpus  in 
Virginia,  468;  instructions  of, 
about  judges,  504;  requires 
lawyers  to  be  licensed,  568, 
581;  encourages  legal  formali- 
ties, 664;  English  Government 
writes  to,  about  pirates,  678; 
acts  as  judge  in  Chancery 
Court,  705;  ii,  estimates 
numbers  of  Virginia  infan- 
try, 10;  reorganizes  military 
system,  22;  commander-in- 
chief,  28;  powder  brought  to 
Virginia  at  request  of,  42; 
charged  with  diverting  the 
fort  duties,  165;  asks  that  a 
frigate  be  sent  to  Virginia, 
180;  criticises  the  captains 
of  the  guardships,  181; 
summons  Crofts  to  James- 
town, 182;  orders  presence  of 


pirate  ships  to  be  announced 
to  him,  206;  sends  pirate 
booty  to  England,  208;  loy- 
alty of,  to  James  the  Sec- 
ond, 284;  Nicholson  appointed 
Lieutenant  -  Governor  under, 
307;  sets  out  for  New  York, 
308 ;  impowered  by  Council  to 
act  in  his  place  in  his  absence, 
309;  refuses  to  read  his  in- 
structions, 319;  his  power  to 
remit  fines  restricted,  321; 
passes  much  time  at  Rosegill, 
337;  chief  aim  of,  while  in 
Virginia  339,  350;  required 
to  be  careful  in  choosing 
Councillors,  358;  impowered 
to  fill  vacancies  in  his  Council, 
371;  expels  Philip  Ludwell 
from  the  Council,  373;  quorum 
of  Council  fixed  by  instruc- 
tions of,  in  1685,  373;  claims 
the  right  to  remove  the  clerk 
of  the  Assembly,  472,  473;  his 
relations  with  the  Assembly, 
494,  495,  497,  498;  transmits 
copies  of  Acts  to  Privy 
Council,  505;  required  to  see 
that  all  by-laws  were  ap- 
proved, 518;  protests  against 
the  exclusive  right  of  the 
Burgesses  to  tax,  527,  529; 
instructed  to  abolish  the  poll 
tax,  546 
Howard,  i,   John,  419;  Stephen, 

575 
Howel,  Thomas,  ii,  444 
Howell,  Edmond,  i,  301,  418 
Howson,  ii,  89 
Hubbard,  Matthew,  i,  435 
Huddlesey,  John,  i,  44 
Hudnall,  ii,  108 
Hudson,   i,    Rev.   George,    127; 

John,  592;  Leonard,  347 
Hughes,  Thomas,  ii,  225 
Hughes,  William,  i,  434 
Hughlett,  John,  i,  535 
Huguenots,  i,  267,  322,  327 
Hundred,  the,  ii,  287-291,  294 
Hungar's,  i,  Bridge,  578;  Creek, 

536 
Hungar's  Parish,  i,  consolidated, 

59;  provision  for  poor  of,  88; 

church  dues  of,  collected  by 

sheriff,   93;     character  of  its 


666 


Index 


Hungar's  Parish — Continued 
church    edifice    about     1682, 
104,  105;  removal  of  church, 
107;     gift    of   plate   to,    no; 
its  churchwardens  sue,  555 

Hunnicutt,  John,  i,  32 

Hunt,  i,  Rev.  Robert,  195,  202; 
Thomas,  18 

Indians,  i,  early  interest  in  their 
conversion,  3-9;  education  of,/ 
9;  decline  in  number  of,  9; 
"depopulation  in  consequence 
of  depredations  by,  60;  relief 
granted  individuals,  77;  gift 
to  the  College  for,  109; 
threatened  intrusion  of,  from 
Pennsylvania,  246;  threat- 
ened invasion  of,  in  1688, 
269;  suspected  of  witchcraft, 
278;  Doeg  tribe  of,  283;  free 
school  for  benefit  of,  344-346; 
reference  to,  347 ;  a  College  pro- 
jected for,  362 ;  history  of  the 
College,  363-371 ;  boys  among, 
educated  by  citizens,  364; 
threatened  attack  by,  in  1692, 
389;  Boyle's  gift  for  benefit 
of,  396,  397;  Smith  captured 
by,  651;   an   Indian  servant, 

*'  673;  ii,  incursions  of,  3;  in- 
discriminate hostility  of,  8; 
coats  of  mail  used  in  war  with, 
30;  expedition  against,  in 
1677,  40;  preparation  in 
youth  for  war  with,  63; 
their  manner  of  warfare,  68, 

v  7i,  76,  77;  distrust  of,  felt 
by  whites,  72-75;  palisade 
across  the  Peninsula  as  a 
barrier  against,  98,  99;  forts 
erected  in  1645  to  prevent 
inroads  of,  100-102;  forts 
erected  in  1676,  102-107; 
palisaded  storehouses,  108- 
in ;  corps  of  rangers  to  serve 
against,  115  et  seq.;  Wyatt 
trades  with,  308;  treaty  with, 
309;  costs  of  campaigns 
against,  535;  tithables  among, 
548,  549 

Indian  College,  i,  collections  for, 
in  England,  362;  assignment 
of  land  for,  363,  366,  367; 
contributions  for    benefit   of, 


364;  income  to  support,  365; 
George  Thorpe  appointed 
head  of,  367,  368;  effect  of 
Massacre  of  1622  on,  368-370; 
plantation  belonging  to,  371 

Ingle,  Captain,  ii,  54 

Ingle,  Edward,  i,  79 

Inglis,  Mongo,  i,  398 

Instructions  of  1606,  i,  472 

Insurrection  of  1676,  i,  16,  283, 
360,  380,  459;  ii,  3,  40,  87, 
92,  167,  199,  264,  265,  357, 
364,  432,  474,  494,  542 

Ireland,  ii,  599 

Irish  servants,  ii,  7,  8 

Iron  Works,  i,  345,  346 

Isle  of  Wight  county,  i,  gift 
to  poor  in,  26;  profanity  in, 
43;  divided  into  two  parishes, 
55;  election  of  vestry  in,  67; 
its  glebe,  168;  gift  of  land  and 
tobacco  to,  191;  activity  of 
Quaker  missionaries  in,  241; 
provision  by  will  for  educa- 
tion of  children  in,  299, 
300,  303,  304;  petition  of 
Hugh  Campbell  as  affecting 
inhabitants  of,  333,  33.6; 
earnings  of  a  schoolmaster  in, 
341;  provision  for  free  educa- 
tion in,  357;  protests  against 
tax  for  benefit  of  William  and 
Mary  College,  396;  owners 
of  books  in,  405,  407,  416, 
417;  signatures  to  griev- 
ances of  1 676,  459 ;  early  mem- 
bers of  its  court,  490;  justices 
in,  490;  terms  of  its  court, 
520;  divided  by  a  river,  530; 
citizens  of,  prosecuted,  570; 
ii,  military  quota  required  of, 
in  1 686, 1 1 ;  Bridger  commands 
militia  in,  22 ;  officers  of  militia 
in,  23;  colonels  in,  24;  regulars 
billeted  in,  in  1677,  41;  pro- 
vision by,  for  Indian  marches, 
82,  83,  93;  soldiers  enlisted 
in,  100;  seeks  permission  to 
build  a  fort,  159;  originally 
a  part  of  James  City  Cor- 
poration, 291;  boundaries 
of,  laid  off,  295 ;  number  of 
Burgesses  from,  428;  petitions 
the  Assembly  to  dismiss  one 
of     the     county's     members, 


Index 


667 


Isle  of  Wight  Co. — Continued 
467;  quit-rents  of,  farmed  out, 
578;    value   of  quit-rents  in, 
579 

Jackson,  i:  Rev.  Andrew,  184; 
Henry,  36;  Robert,  429; 
Thomas,  314,  415 

Jacob,  Rev.  Henry,  i,  200 

Jacobson,  Lawrence,  i,  431 

Jadwin,  Robert,  i,  422 

James,  Captain,  i,  557 

James  City  Corporation,  ii,  291, 
340,  427 

James  City  County,  i,  vacant 
pulpits  in,  in  1680,  124; 
grievances  of,  in  1676,  how 
signed,  459;  its  terms  of  court, 
520;  jail  in,  636-638;  ii, 
military  quota  required  of,  in 
1686,11;  militia  officers  in,  23, 
24;  provision  by,  for  Indian 
march,  82;  soldiers  enlisted 
in,  100;  mechanics  impressed 
in,  145;  originally  a  part  of 
James  City  Corporation,  291; 
when  first  laid  off,  294;  after 
whom  named,  298;  Burgesses 
of,  428;  declaration  by  people 
of,  in  1677,  433;  tithables  of, 
assessed,  462;  quit-rents  of, 
farmed  out,  577;  value  of 
quit-rents  in,  579 

James  First,  i,  orders  contribu- 
tions to  be  made  for  Indian  ed- 
ucation^; referred  to,  130,2 65; 
orders  collections  for  bene- 
fit of  Indian  College,  362 ;  in- 
structions as  to  maintaining 
English  law  in  Virginia,  463; 
ii,  presents  the  colonists  with 
armor,  32;  forbids  Parlia- 
ment to  intervene  in  Colony's 
affairs,  231;  proclaims  the 
limit  of  the  colonists'  depen- 
dence, 232-234;  claims  the 
Virginia  customs,  235;  ap- 
points members  of  Virginia 
Council  in  London,  235;  the 
struggle  with,  237;  declines 
to  assume  any  expense  on 
the  Colony's  account,  239; 
his  timidity,  239;  takes  steps 
to  abolish  the  London  Com- 
pany, 250-252;  death  of,  255; 


intention  of,  to  abolish  the 
General  Assembly,  257;  his 
name  given  to  a  county,  298; 
his  grant  of  rights  to  the 
Virginians,  531 
James  City  Parish,  i,  132 
James,    i:    Francis,    36;     Rev. 

Thomas,  254 
James,  John,  ii,  211 
Jameson,  Thomas,  ii,  225 
James  River,   i,    163,    197,   366, 
372,    446,    483,    528,    629;    ii, 
76,  82,  84,  98,  109,  118,  119, 
126,   129,   132,   137,   145,   150, 
157,   158,   161,   187,  291,  313, 

395,  438,  447,  564 

James  Second,  i,  grants  reli- 
gious freedom,  215;  declara- 
tion by,  of  liberty  of  con- 
science, 244,  268;  referred 
to,  271,  284-286,  597,  598; 
requires  copies  of  Acts  to 
be  sent  to  England,  330; 
commissions  William  Byrd, 
Sr.,  auditor,  599 

Jamestown,  i,  religious  services 
at,  7 ;  religious  spirit  of  foun- 
ders of,  10;  De  la  Warr  at, 
11;  clergy  meet  at,  13;  epi- 
demic at,  18;  vestry's  work  at, 
65;  first  religious  services  at, 
94;  condition  of  church  at, 
in  1617,  97;  in  1619,  97,  98; 
church  erected  at,  about 
1642,  100;  contributions  to  its 
church  about  1636  and  1640, 
101;  church  at,  built  of  brick, 
106;  church  at,  in  disrepair 
in  1699,  107;  Harvey  ar- 
rives at,  119;  Rev.  Mr. 
Blair  clergyman  at,  128,  130; 
meeting  of  clergy  at,  187; 
fire  at,  195;  Rev.  Mr.  Bolton 
occupies  pulpit  at,  I99;incum- 
bents  of  benefice  at,  202; 
William  Robinson  tried  at, 
220;  trial  of  Quakers  at,  234; 
proclamation  at,  about  threat- 
ened invasion  in  1691,  248; 
school  teachers  summoned  to, 
in  1686,  334,  335;  Nicholson 
proposes  to  convert  court- 
house at,  into  a  schoolhouse, 
335;  report  about  schools  in 
1699  returned  to,  338;  report 


668 


Index 


Jamestown —  Continued 

of  subscribers  to  projected 
college  in  1690  to  be  sent  to, 
381;  reference  to,  392;  officers 
of  William  and  Mary  College 
summoned  to,  to  elect  a 
Burgess,  399;  Gov.  Butler 
visits,  464;  juries  impanelled 
at,  470;  judges  of  county- 
court  called  to,  495;  criminals 
sent  to,  509,  512;  reference 
to,  523,  541;  distance  to, 
as  affecting  administrators, 
547;  deeds  recorded  first  at, 
549;  lawsociety  at,  suggested, 
569;  fees  of  King's  repre- 
sentative at,  571;  Sherwood 
resides  at,  573;  prisoners  de- 
livered at,  597;  a  professional 
hangman  at,  6 17,  618;  sheriffs 
required  to  report  at,  633; 
jail  at,  635-637;  prisoners 
delivered  at,  636;  Wingfield 
arrested  and  tried  at,  648; 
parliament  suggested  at,  650; 
General  Court  meets  at,  653- 
655,  658;  burnt  in  1676,  654; 
jurymen  at,  668;  charges  for 
witnesses  sent  to,  670;  pirates 
brought  to,  677;  admiralty 
cases  determined  at,  698;  ii, 
list  of  those  able  to  bear  arms 
sent  to,  9;  centre  of  military 
district,  21;  armorers  sent 
to,  30,  35;  no  provision  at, 
for  protection  of  munitions, 
31;  piece  of  armor  found  at, 
32;  arms  and  ammunition  at, 
in  1625,  33;  the  powder  kept 
at,  49;  reports  as  to  militia 
summons  sent  to,  95;  Indians 
sent  to,  120;  fort  erected  at, 
in  1607,  123,  124,  125,  128, 
131;  ordnance  sent  to,  from 
Point  Comfort,  145;  a  fort 
projected  at,  in  1665,  145,  146; 
in  1667,  150,  152,  153;  fort  at, 
reconstructed  in  1673,  156- 
159;  cannon  at,  164,  167; 
platform  at,  165;  condition 
of  fort  at,  in  1691,  170;  pow- 
der house  at,  170;  guns  at, 
171;  effort  to  keep  up  fort  at, 
173;  Crofts  summoned  to, 
182;  why  its  site  was  chosen 


for  first  settlement,  190; 
arrival  of  Spaniards  feared  at, 
191;  Bennett  at,  195;  Berke- 
ley strengthens  the  fort  at, 
197;  news  of  French  attack 
expected  at,  202;  pirates 
tried  at,  204;  report  as  to 
pirates  to  be  made  to  authori- 
ties at,  214;  Yeardley  arrives 
at,  in  1626,  257;  William  and 
Mary  proclaimed  at,  286; 
capital  town  of  James  City 
Corporation,  292 ;  the  Gover- 
nors' absences  from,  307,  308, 
309;  Gates  arrives  at,  312; 
Nicholson's  and  Andros's  in- 
augurations at,  313,  314; 
copies  of  instructions  given  to 
the  Governor  filed  among 
the  records  at,  319;  Culpeper 
visits,  327;  Governor's  resi- 
dence at,  335,  336;  public 
whipping  at,  354;  attendance 
of  the  Council  at,  379;  Eng- 
lish documents  received  at, 
387;  Council  meets  at,  388; 
name  of  newly  elected  Bur- 
gess returned  to,  420;  life 
of  Burgess  in,  425;  repre- 
sentation of,  in  the  Assembly, 
428,  429;  Burgess'  journey 
to  and  from,  430,  438,  443; 
servants  taken  to,  by  Bur- 
gess, 437;  cost  of  Burgess' 
living  at,  438;  delinquent 
sheriff  to  be  brought  to,  448; 
General  Assembly  meets  at, 
450;  no  State-House  in,  in 
1677,  455;  capital  required 
in  1677  to  be  retained  at, 
455;  capital  in  1699  removed 
from,  458,  459;  messenger  of 
the  Assembly  sent  from,  473; 
a  meeting  of  Council  and 
Burgesses  at,  in  Harvey's 
time,  480;  epidemics  at,  488, 
489;  news  of  Cromwell's  death 
reaches,  491;  re  visors  of  the 
Acts  meet  at,  511;  cost  of 
attendance  at,  535,  537,  538; 
George  Bruce  petitions  Gover- 
nor and  Council  at,  566;  audi- 
tor's account  submitted  at, 
598;  George  Sandys  arrives  at, 
602;  general  comment  on  the 


Index 


669 


Jamestown — Continued 

influence    of  'the    foundation 
of,  635,  636 

Jamestown  Fort,  ii,  123-125, 
145,  146,  150-153.  156-159, 
164-170,  171-173 

Jamestown  Island,  ii,  63 

Jarratt,  Richard,  i,  301 

Jarvis,  Arthur,  i,  615;  ii,  458 

Jeffreys,  Governor,  i,  judges 
recommended  to,  491;  names 
judges  for  Surry,  494;  sus- 
pends a  county  judge,  506;  ii, 
salary  of,  349;  appoints  Daniel 
Parke  Secretary  of  the  Colony, 
394;  condemns  the  Jamestown 
innkeepers,  442 ;  Burgesses 
seek  the  intervention  of,  about 
the  Assembly  records,  495, 
496;  complains  of  the  Lancas- 
ter county  court,  572,  573 

Jeffreys,  Jeffrey,  i,  695;  ii,  266, 
478,  520,  532 

Jenifer,  Daniel,  i,  601 

Jenkins,  Henry,  i,  355,  502, 
512 

Jenkins,  Secretary,  ii,  73 

Jennings,  Edmund,  i,  has  pew 
in  Bruton  church,  107;  prose- 
cutes pirates,  677,  678;  At- 
torney-General, 688;  ii,  offi- 
cer of  militia,  25;  custodian 
of  powder,  47;  grants  use  of 
one  of  his  buildings  for  pow- 
der house,  172;  reports  on  the 
condition  of  the  forts,  174; 
supplies  food  for  pirate  pris- 
oners, 223;  prosecutes  the 
pirates,  225;  petitions  the 
Board  of  Trade,  378;  con- 
tracts for  quit-rents,  578 

Jennings,  i:  Jane,  287;  John, 
417,  510,  511,  516;  Peter,  688 

Jenny,  i,  673 

John's  Creek,  ii,  127 

Johnson,   Alderman,   i,   369;   ii, 

253 

Johnson,  ii:  Anthony,  564;  Mar- 
tha, 564 

Johnson,  i:  Edward,  434;  Jacob, 
575;  Martin,  429;  Paul,  436; 
Peter,  303 ;  Robert,  5 ;  Thomas, 

404 
Johnson,  John,  1,  324,  325,  341, 
604;  ii,  55 


Johnson, William,  i,  37,  327,  627; 

"»  57 

Johnston,  Richard,  ii,  109 

Jones,  ii:  Anthony,  83;  Cadwala- 
der,  24,  106,  107;  Roger,  179, 
180 

Jones,  i:  Elizabeth,  78;  Rev. 
Emanuel,  203;  George,  428; 
Margaret,  629;  Nathaniel, 
103,  167;  Richard,  415; 
Thomas,  580,  625,  679;  Wil- 
liam, 643 

Jones,  Robert,  i,  325;  ii,  563 

Jones,  Rev.  Rowland,  i,  his 
residence,  171;  his  library, 
175;  his  personal  estate,  181; 
referred  to,  200;  his  antece- 
dents, 201 ;  incumbent  of 
pulpit  at  Jamestown,  202 

Jones's  Neck,  ii,  291 

Jordan,  George,  i,  testamentary 
provision  about  his  home,  20; 
presents  plate  to  church,  1 1 1 ; 
number  of  tithables  belonging 
to>  5545  referred  to,  688 

Jordan,  Robert,  i,  268,  517 

Jordan's  Journey,  ii,  33 

Jury,  Thomas,  i,  564 

Jury  trials,  i,  550  et  seq. 

Justices  of  county  court,  i, 
named  by  the  Governor,  486, 
487;  how  they  were  referred 
to,  487,  488;  how  long  their 
commissions  were  valid,  488; 
who  they  were,  488,  489;  by 
whom  recommended,  490; 
their  number,  491-494;  Coun- 
cillors could  serve  with,  496- 
499;  oaths  of,  499-501;  num- 
ber making  up  the  quorum, 
501;  paid  no  salary,  502; 
sometimes  remunerated,  503, 
564;  length  of  term  of,  504, 
505;  supervision  of,  505-507; 
maintain  the  dignity  of  their 

'  court,  508-511;  action  when 
insulted,  511,  512;  frequency 
of  their  meetings,  516;  extra 
sessions  of,  517,  518;  dates 
on  which  they  met,  519-521; 
hour  of  meeting,  521;  fines 
for  absences,  522,  523;  the 
court-houses  in  which  they 
met,  524-539;  their  legal 
equipment,  554-560;   proced- 


.67° 


Index 


Justices — Continued 

ure  followed  by,  555.  556; 
libraries  they  had  access  to, 
556-560;  ii,  their  social  in- 
fluence, 617;  general  comment 
on,  622,  623 

Kae,  Robert,  i,  342 

Keeling,  Adam,  i,  448,  449,  527; 

ii,  25 
Keene,  John,  i,  439 
Keeper  of  the  Seal,  ii,  396,  397 
Keith,  Rev.  George,  i,  177,  200, 

252 
Kellaway,  William,  i,  433 
Kemp,  ii,  449 
Kemp,  John,  i,  412 
Kemp,  Matthew,  i,  601;  ii,  25, 

578 
Kemp,  Richard,  i,  208,  209,  465, 

589;ii,  356,  393,  399,  451,505, 

591,  592,  603 
Kendall,  George,  i,  107;  ii,  124, 

354,  355,  368,  369 
Kendall,   William,   1,   433,   692; 

",  54,  57 
Kennedy,  William,  1,  24 
Kenner,  Rodham,  i,  601;  ii,  25 
Ksnnett,  Martin,  i,  431 
Kennon,   Richard,   i,  419,   491; 

ii,  45 

Kent,  Henry,  1,  406 

Key,  Rev.  Isaac,  i,  127 

Kidd,  Captain,  ii,  209,  210 

Kiggin,  Charles,  i,  434 

Kikotan,  i,  Rev.  Mr.  fvtease 
serves  as  clergyman  at,  198; 
provision  for  free  education 
in  parish  of,  351;  ii,  forts 
created  at,  127;  guns  at,  in 
1623,  131;  Nicholson  stops 
at,  219;  pirates  imprisoned 
at,  223;  corporation  of,  291; 
Elizabeth  City  capital  town 
of,  292;  bounds  of  corpora- 
tion of,  292;  deputy  collector 
appointed  at,  593 

King,  John,  ii,  26 

King's  Attorneys,  i,  570 

King's  Creek,  i,  629 

King  and  Queen  County,  i,  285; 

ii,  577 
Kinsey,  Charles,  i,  287 
Kippax,  Rev.  Peter,  i,  203 
Kitchen,  Charles,  i,  571 


Knight,  Peter,  j,  490;  ii,  444 
Knott,  William,  i,  517 
Knowles,  Rev.  John,  i,  254 
Knox,  John,  i,  37 

Lacey,  William,  ii,  26 
Lafoe,  James,  i,  342 
Lake,  Francis,  i,  415 
Lambert,  George,  i,  270 
Lambert,  Thomas,  i,  91;  ii,  20, 

571 

Lancaster  County,  i,  petition 
of,  as  to  Sabbath  observance, 
35;  vacant  pulpits  in,  in  1680, 
124;  Rev.  Mr.  Cole  chosen 
minister  in,  133;  provision 
for  education  of  children  in, 
303,  306;  private  tutor  in, 
329;  provision  for  a  free 
school  in,  358;  owners  of 
books  in,  407,  424,  425;  Cap- 
tain Hackett  condemned  in, 
for  sending  a  challenge,  466; 
punishment  in,  for  disrespect 
to  court,  514;  divided  origi- 
nally by  a  river,  530;  court- 
house in,  532;  law  books 
bought  for  court  in,  557; 
Sherwood  appears  before  jus- 
tices of,  574;  members  of 
the  bar  of,  580;  sheriffs  of, 
601;  coroner  in,  603;  stocks 
in,  627;  jail  in,  641;  cost  of 
criminal  trials  in,  669;  fine  in 
criminal  trial  in,  670;  ii,  mili- 
tary quota  required  of,  in  1686, 
11,  12;  militia  officers  in,  24; 
allowances  in  levy  of,  50,  51; 
provision  in,  for  Indian  march, 
85;  levy  in,  for  the  Rangers, 
121;  warned  of  the  presence 
of  pirates,  218;  taxes  collected 
in,  for  support  of  the  Gover- 
nor, 346,  349;  light  thrown  on 
Secretary's  salary  in  1700  by 
records  of,  401;  St.  Leger 
Codd  chosen  as  Burgess  for, 
422 ;  assessment  in,  for  benefit 
of  the  Burgess,  439,  441,  442, 
445;  levies  in,  567,  568;  Gov- 
ernor Jeffreys  complains  of 
judges  of,  572,  573;  quit-rents 
of,  farmed  out,  578;  value  of 
quit-rents  in,  579 

Land,  Francis,  i,  79,  415 


Index 


671 


Langhorne,  ii,  no 
Langley,  Ralph,  i,  27,  595 
Lankfield,  John,  i,  24 
La  Paix,  ship,  ii,  219-223 
Lash,  The,  i,  621-626 
Laud,  Archbishop,  ii,  268 
Lawne,  Christopher,  ii,  290 
Lawne's  Creek  Parish,  i,  laid  off, 
55,  100;  gift  of  plate  to,  in; 
Rev.    Mr.   Parke  preaches  in 
pulpit  of,  190;  ii,  popular  agi- 
tation in,  544,  estates  in,  554 
Lawne's  Hundred,  ii,  290 
Lawrence,    i:    Rev.   John,    181, 
200,  415;  Mary,  90;  Richard, 

675 

Lawson,  Anthony,  ii,  25 

Leake,  Rebecca,  ii,  204 

Leake,  William,  i,  314 

Lear,  John,  i,  382;  ii,  24,  166, 
167,  215,  511,  593 

Leatherbury,  1:  Charles,  329; 
Thomas,  231 

LeBreton,  Edward,  i,  282 

Lee,  Hancock,  i,  601,  644;  ii,  25 

Lee,  Hugh,  i,  357 

Lee,  John,  i,  318,  534,  601;  ii, 
578 

Lee,  Richard,  Jr.,  i,  318 

Lee,  Richard,  Sr.,  i,  educated 
in  England,  318;  sons  of, 
educated  in  England,  318; 
his  culture,  443;  court  held  at 
home  of,  535;  member  of 
Oyer  and  Terminer  Court, 
673;  Attorney-General,  688; 
ii,  commander  of  horse,  22; 
officer  of  militia,  25;  reports 
presence  of  Indians  on  the 
Potomac,  121;  serves  in  the 
Council,  365;  refuses  to  take 
the  oath  prescribed  by  Par- 
liament, 371;  petitions  the 
Board  of  Trade,  378;  distance 
of  his  home  from  Jamestown, 
379;  appointed  Secretary  of 
State,  394;  revisor  of  the  Acts, 
511;  high  social  position  of, 
607;  his  influence,  610 

Lee,  William,  ii,  45 

Leete,  Rev.  William,  i,  199 

Legg,  Edward,  i,  680 

Leigh,  William,  i,  579 

Leightenhouse,  Robert,  i,  332, 
337 


Lemman,  Jane,  i,  431 

Lend,  John,  i,  243 

Lenox,  Duke  of,  ii,  393 

Lester,  Morris,  i,  602 

Lewis,  i:  John,  24;  Richard, 
342;  Roger,  434;  William, 
241 

Lewis,  Peter,  ii,  211 

Libraries,  i:  Russell,  405; 
Washington,  405;  Pigott,  406; 
Carter,  407,  424;  Smith,  407; 
Fitzhugh,  407,  422,  423; 
Moseley,  413;  Ball,  415;  Sarah 
Willoughby,  413,  414;  Cocke, 
416;  Bridger,  417;  Eppes,  418; 
Farrar,  418;  Randolph  419; 
Mottram,  421;  Annis,  422; 
Wormeley,  425,  426;  Colston, 
426;  Spicer,  426,  427;  Wil- 
loughby, 427;  Hack,  432; 
Parkes,  432;  Hubbard,  435; 
Newell,  436;  Haddon,  437; 
Underhill,  437;  Sandford,438; 
Booth,  438,  439 

Lieutenant- Governorship,  ii, 
301,  304,  306-308,  333,  580 

Lightfoot,  John,  ii,  599 

Ligon,  i:  Richard,  313;  William, 

.510 
Lindsay,  i:  Rev.  David,  212, 

279;  Rev.  John,  203 
Linney,  Arthur,  ii,  53 
Linsly,  Adam,  i,  547 
Liquor  Tax,  ii,  581,  582 
Little,  John,  i,  510 
Littleton,  Edward  i,  300;  ii,  39 
Littleton,  Nathaniel,  ii,  20,  25, 

572 
Littleton,  Southey,  i,  500,  559, 

601 
Lloyd,    Cornelius,    i,    100,    412, 

691;  ii,  20,  80,  84,  571 
Lloyd,  i:  Ed  ward, 257;  Elizabeth, 

31 

Lloyd,  John,  i,  69;  ii,  225 

Lloyd,  Thomas,  ii,  25 

Lloyd,   William,   i,    185;  ii,   24, 

T  4f  9A 

Lock,  George,  1,  411 

London,  i,  Rev.   Mr.  Lawrence 

owns  property  in,  181;  Quaker 

missionary  from,  226;  referred 

to,  276, 394;  apprentices  from, 

in    Virginia,    314;    Virginians 

educated  at  schools  in,  318, 


672 


Index 


London — Continued 

319;  Macajah  Perry  repre- 
sents Virginia  in,  396;  gazettes 
from,  432 ;  Virginian  records  in, 
444,  448;  ii,  Culpeper  visits, 
42;  Howard  visits,  165;  pi- 
rates sent  to,  224;  an  opulent 
merchant  of,  242;  Virginia 
appoints  commissioner  in,  266; 
Council  for  Virginia  in,  316; 
Quarter  Courts  in,  489;  John 
Pountis  sets  out  for,  519; 
duty  on  tobacco  paid  in,  586, 

587 
London,  Ambrose,  i,  239 
London,  Bishop  of,  i,  presents 
books  in  the  King's  name 
to  Virginian  churches,  112; 
asked  to  fill  vacant  pulpits  in 
Virginia,  118;  proposition  to,  to 
secure  clergymen  for  Virginia, 
123;  an  appeal  to,  124; 
ordained  most  of  the  Virginian 
clergy,  126;  origin  of  juris- 
diction of,  in  Virginia,  126; 
represented  by  commissary, 
128;  condemns  treatment  of 
clergy  in  Virginia,  137,  138; 
Virginian  clergyman  required 
to  obtain  certificate  from, 
218;  licensed  Virginian  school- 
masters, 334;  advises  Blair 
about  the  College,  385;  pre- 
scribes rules  for  education  of 
Indian  boys,  397 
London  Company,  i,  orders  me- 
morial for  Mrs.  Robinson, 
97 ;  its  treasurer  receives  plate 
for  the  Virginian  College, 
109;  requests  Bishop  of  Lon- 
don to  fill  vacant  pulpits  in 
Virginia,  119;  orders  Yeard- 
ley  to  assure  payment  of 
clergymen's  salaries,  145; 
provides  tenants  for  glebes, 
163;  Puritanism  in  time  of, 
253;  Indian  school  in  time 
of,  344-346;  names  the  East 
India  School,  347;  bestows 
benefits  on  East  India  School, 
348;  interest  taken  by,  in 
Indian  College,  362,  363,  369, 
370;  sends  Thorpe  to  Virginia, 
367;  takes  steps  to  preserve 
the    College    after    massacre 


of  1622,  368,  369;  influence 
possessed  by,  in  England, 
374;  chooses  a  committee  to 
select  laws  applicable  to  Vir- 
ginia, 463;  condemns  pun- 
ishment of  Captain  Brewster, 
464;  adopts  a  constitution 
for  Virginia,  476;  establishes 
monthly  courts,  484;  oppo- 
sition to  re-establishment  of, 
551;  meetings  of  its  Quarter 
Courts,  655;  ii,  petitions  the 
King  for  armor,  32;  private 
armor  in  Virginia  in  time  of, 
53;  borrows  cannon,  128; 
makes  a  contract  for  building 
a  fort,  129,  130;  presents 
petition  to  Parliament,  231; 
how  far  objects  of  the,  under 
first  charter,  secured,  236; 
how  far  political  influences 
after  1609  affected  the  work- 
ing of  the,  237;  powers  of 
its  officials,  240;  its  member- 
ship after  1609,  241;  receives 
vast  territory,  242 ;  the  King 
jealous  of,  245;  a  General  As- 
sembly called  by,  in  Virginia, 
246;  codifies  laws  for  Virginia, 
247,  248;  patent  recalled,  251; 
seeks  to  recover  its  patent  in 
163 1,  259;  relations  of,  to 
Martin's  Hundred,  293;  elects 
De  la  Warr  Governor,  301; 
appoints  De  la  Warr  Gover- 
nor for  life,  310;  reports  on 
condition  of  the  Colony  re- 
quired by, 329;  sends  tenants 
to  Virginia,  341;  confers  spe- 
cial powers  on  the  heads  of 
plantations,  405;  officers  of, 
chosen  by  ballot  box,  418; 
taxation  in  time  of,  522,  523; 
head  of,  known  as  Treasurer, 
602 

Lonegan,  William,  i,  623 

Long,  i:  Arthur,  632;  Elizabeth, 
310;  John,  417;  Peter,  22 

Lonsdale,  Rev.  Peter,  i,  162 

Love,  James,  i,  406 

Loveless,  Roger,  ii,  286 

Loving,  Thomas,  i,  434;  ii,  382 

Lower  Norfolk  County,  i,  citi- 
zens of,  indicted,  33;  bastardy 
in,    46,    48,    49;    its    vestries 


Index 


673 


Lower  Norfolk  County — Cont'd. 
meet,  71 ;  tax  levy  of,  disputed, 
76;  churchwardens  appointed 
in,  79;  parish  dues  collected 
in,  93;  church  erected  in,  99; 
cost  of  repairing  a  church  in, 
107;  Rev.  Mr.  Harrison  chosen 
minister  in,  132;  Rev.  Mr. 
Calvert  chosen  minister  in, 
133;  salary  of  a  clergyman  in, 
154;  Rev.  Mr.  Harrison 
leaves,  166;  Quaker  conven- 
ticles in,  ordered  to  be  sup- 
pressed, 231 ;  arrest  of  Quakers 
in,  235,  236;  Quakers  fined  in, 
238,  239;  Rev.  Mr.  Harrison 
holds  living  in,  255;  a  Roman- 
ist priest  summoned  before 
justices  of,  267;  charges  of 
witchcraft  in,  279,  281,  282; 
testamentary  provisions  in, 
for  education  of  children,  298, 
300-302,  304;  provisions  for 
education  of  orphans  and 
apprentices  in,  31 1-3 13; 
young  men  from,  educated 
in  England,  318;  provision 
for  free  education  in,  357; 
owners  of  books  in,  404,  405, 
408,  411-415;  terms  of  its 
justices,  488;  justices  ap- 
pointed in,  491;  scene  in 
court-house  of,  510;  punish- 
ment for  disrespect  to  justices 
°f>  5l2»  514;  admiralty  case 
in,  518;  court-houses  in,  524- 
526;  its  course  toward  pau- 
pers, 544;  jury  trials  in,  553; 
law  books  bought  for  its 
county  court,  557;  citizens  of, 
prosecuted,  570;  serious  of- 
fences committed  in,  598;  sher- 
iffs of,  601;  precincts  of,  602; 
presentation  by  grand  jury 
of,  6*05,  607;  use  of  the  lash 
in,  622-624;  presentment  for 
slander  in,  631;  jails  in,  639; 
prison  charges  in,  645;  trial 
costs  in,  669;  its  justices 
request  intrepretation  of  a 
will,  681;  ii,  military  quota 
required  of,  in  1686,  II;  com- 
mander of,  required  to  su- 
pervise the  building  of  a 
church,  18;  officers  of,  in  1652, 


appointed  by  court,  20;  Brid- 
ger  commands  militia  in,  22; 
militia  officers  in,  23;  colonels 
in,  24;  allowances  for  powder 
in  levy  of,  50;  Philip  Felgate 
dies  in,  53 ;  requires  smiths  to 
fix  all  arms,  57;  military 
equipment  paid  for  by  citizens 
of,  81 ;  provision  by,  for  Indian 
marches,  82,  83,  85,  86,  93; 
levy  in,  for  the  Rangers,  121; 
mechanics  impressed  in,  147; 
seeks  permission  to  erect  a 
fort,  1 59-1 61;  division  of, 
considered,  295 ;  subdivided  in- 
to Norfolk  and  Princess  Anne 
counties,  297;  assessments  in, 
for  support  of  the  Governor, 
347;  number  of  Burgesses 
from,  428;  assessment  in, 
for  benefit  of  the  Burgess, 
436,  437>  438,  442;  general 
assessments  in,  536;  lists  of 
tithables  in,  550;  justices 
draw  up  lists  of  tithables  in, 
552;  levies  in,  567,  568; 
duty  of  sheriff  in,  to  collect 
taxes,  570;  in  1643,  special 
commissioner  appointed  in, 
to  collect  taxes,  571,  572; 
quit-rents  of,  farmed  out, 
578;    value  of  quit-rents   in, 

579 

Lowther,  Gerard,  i,  583 

Lucas,  i:  John,  272;  Thomas, 
88,  108;  William,  79 

Ludlow,  Thomas,  1,  434 

Ludwell,  Philip,  i,  contributes 
to  the  erection  of  Bruton 
church,  103;  his  gift  to  the 
College,  395;  reference  to, 
637;  ii,  officer  of  militia,  25; 
accuses  Howard,  165;  ad- 
ministers oath  to  Nicholson 
as  Governor,  314;  Green 
Spring  leased  to,  336;  ap- 
pointed Secretary  of  the  Col- 
ony, 394;  fails  to  fight  a  duel, 
448;  contracts  to  build  a 
State-House,  456,  457;  re- 
visor  of  the  Acts,  510 

Ludwell,  Thomas,  i,  contributes 
to  church  at  Middle  Planta- 
tion, 103;  letter  to  Lord 
Arlington,    124;   letter   about 


674 


Index 


Ludwell,  Thomas — Continued 
ordained  clergymen,  126;  dec- 
laration as  to  clergymen, 
152;  statement  as  to  Quakers, 
215;  appoints  Hill,  clerk,  589; 
letter  to  Lord  Arlington  about 
the  General  Court,  660;  de- 
scribes procedure  in  the 
General  Court,  664;  ii,  objects 
to  building  new  fort  at  Point 
Comfort,  146,  148;  reports 
on  the  Virginia  flotilla,  179; 
sent  to  York  by  Berkeley, 
196;  member  of  commission 
to  procure  charter  from  the 
King,  281;  states  what  was 
Bacon's  purpose  in  the  rebel- 
lion, 281,  282;  supports  royal 
cause,  394;  propounds  the 
basis  of  a  new  charter,  504; 
sent  to  England  for  a  new 
charter,  520,  530,  532;  Treas- 
urer of  the  Colony,  604; 
influence  enjoyed  by,  610 

Luke,  John,  i,  555,  577 

Lyddall,  ii,  George,  12,  93,  112; 
John, 24 

Lylly,  Stephen,  i,  337 

Lynnhaven,  i,  court  held  at, 
524;  court-house  at,  526,  527 

Lynnhaven  Bay,  ii,  3,  211,  218, 
219,  221-223,  390 

Lynnhaven  Parish,  i,  vestry  of, 
meets  in  1662,  71;  its  vestry 
instructed,  74;  its  church- 
wardens in  1647,  80;  provi- 
sion by,  for  an  orphan,  86;  gift 
of  plate  to,  no;  its  clergyman 
in  1658,  172 

Lynnhaven  Parish  church,  i,  51 

Lynnhaven  River,  i,  100 

Macaulay,  Lord,  i,  117,  118,  442, 

456 
Mace,  ii,  463 

Machodick  Parish,  i,  102,  167 
Mackemie,  Rev.  Francis,  i,  262 
Mackie,  Rev.  Josias,  i,  263,  273 
Macklannie,  i,  340,  341 
Macmyal,  Hugh,  i,  340 
Macon,  i,  655;  ii,  456 
Maddox,  Mary,  i,  250 
Madison,  Isaac,  ii,  79,  289 
Magistrate's  Court,   i,  jurisdic- 
1    tion  fixed  in  1642,  478;  objects 


of,  479;  jurisdiction  extended 
to   criminal   cases,    480,    481; 
dignity  of  court  maintained, 
481,  482 
Makenny,  Alexander,  i,  224      i 
Mallory,    Rev.    Philip,    i,    sent 
to  England  to  obtain  clergy- 
men,    123;     preaches    before 
General    Assembly,    162;    his 
antecedents,  201 ;  confers  with 
Quakers,  229;  denounced  by  a 
Quaker,  233;  preaches  on  the 
restoration     of    Charles     the 
Second,  279 
Mallory,  William,  i,  70 
Malyn,  Isaac,  i,  439 
Manchester,  Earl  of,  ii,  269 
Manning,  Francis,  i,  52 
Margaret  and  John,  ship,  i,  629 
Markets,  i,  99 
Markham,  i:  James,  631;  Lewis, 

583 

Marriage  service,  1,  159,  160, 
161,  219 

Marshall,  ii,  64,  304 

Marshall,  i:  John,  401;  William, 
439,  686 

Marshall,  Roger,  ii,  101 

Marston  Parish,  i,  established, 
57;  church  in,  in  1658,  104; 
church  in,  filled  by  Rev.  Mr. 
Godwyn,  200 

Martial  law,  i,  472-475 

Martin,  Nicholas,  i,  529 

Martin,  John,  ii,  288,  292,  293, 
300,  368 

Martin's  Brandon,  i,  107 

Martin's  Brandon  Parish,  i,  gift 
to,  by  John  Sadler,  167;  its 
parsonage,  170 

Martin's  Hundred,  i,  345;  ii,  33, 
98,  132,  293,  427 

Mary,  Queen,  ii,  235 

Maryland,  i,  Rev.  Mr.  Law- 
rence preaches  in,  181;  col- 
lection of  debts  in,  184; 
Quakers  seek  refuge  in,  226; 
emigration  of  Puritans  to, 
259;  Papists  of,  supposed  to  be 
conspiring,  269;  Virginians' 
view  of  Papists  affected  by 
proximity  of,  275;  Nicholson 
Governor  of,  337;  reference  to, 
624;  ii,  warrant  delivered  in, 
182;   ship   Roanoke   sails   for, 


Index 


675 


Maryland — Continued 

214;  news  of  pirates  sent  to, 
218;  patent  to,  260-262;  An- 
dros  visits,  309;  Roman  Cath- 
olics settle  in,  355;  docu- 
ments for  Governor  of,  388; 
Claiborne  resists  authorities 
of,  393;  servants  take  refuge 
in,  516;  messages  dispatched 
to,  528;  how  exportation  of 
tobacco  from  increased,  585; 
income  from  tax  on  tobacco 
exported  from,  to  other  colo- 
nies, 588;  English  revenue 
derived  from  tobacco  ex- 
ported from,  590 

Mary's  Mount,  i,  351 

Mason,  ii:  Francis,  554;  Mary, 

.  455 

Mason,  George,  i,  283,  601;  ii, 
25,  108 

Mason,  Lemuel,  i,  491,  517;  ii, 
22,  24,  219,  571 

Massachusetts,  see  New  Eng- 
land 

Massacre  of  1622,  i,  15,  97,  346, 
349,  368;  ii,  3,  31,  34,  72,  131, 

523 
Massacre  of  1644,  i,  8,  15,   150, 

255;  ",  3.  38i 
Massy,  Sigismond,  i,  583 
Mather,  Cotton,  i,  255 
Mathew,  Thomas,  i,  698;  ii,  420 
Mathews,  i:   Francis,  436,    560; 

Henry,  644 
Mathews,  John,  ii,  163 
Mathews  Manor,  ii,  192 
Mathews,  Samuel,   i,   444,  674; 

H,   79,   80,   98,    137,   355-357, 

490,  610 
Mathews,  Samuel,  Jr.,  i,  211 
Mattaponi   River,  ii,    102,  109, 

no,  112 
Matts,  John,  i,  329,  330 
Maycock,  Rev.  Samuel,  i,  199 
Mays,  Tristram,  i,  415 
McCarty,  Denis,  i,  581 
McKeel,  i,  677;  ii,  180 
Meadows,  Sir  Philip,  i,  137 
Meares,  Thomas,  i,  258 
Mechanics,  i,  404;  ii,  160 
Meese,  Rev.  Mr.,  i,  198,  199 
Menefie,  George,  i,  364,  674;  ii, 

36,  140,  356,  357,  451 
Merchant,  Roger,  i,  602 


Merchants,  i,  518;  ii,  157-159, 
587 

Merchant's  Hope,  i,  167 

Meredith,  John,  i,  266,  272;  ii, 
50 

Meriwether,  Francis,  i,  558;  ii, 
26,  554      . 

Merryman,  1,  532 

Messenger,  ii,  387,  474,  475 

Metcalf,  Richard,  i,  625 

Michael,  i:  John,  405;  Roger, 
480;  William,  576 

Middle  Plantation,  i,  new  church 
at,  103,  107;  church  at,  built 
of  brick,  106;  salary  of  clergy- 
man at,  153;  chosen  as  site 
of  the  College,  392;  ii,  public 
magazine  at,  41;  ship  stores 
sent  to,  180;  General  Assembly 
convenes  at,  455;  chosen  as 
site  of  new  capital,  458-461 

Middle  Plantation  on  James 
River,  ii,   100 

Middlesex  County,  i,  provides 
for  poor,  88;  Rosegill  in,  318; 
young  men  from,  educated  in 
England,  318,  321;  provision 
for  free  schools  in,  358 ;  owners 
of  books  in,  425;  warrant  of 
hue  and  cry  issued  in,  481; 
judges  of,  provide  for  their 
own  remuneration,  503 ;  court- 
house in,  533;  citizens  of, 
prosecuted,  570;  lawyers 
practising  in,  579;  sheriffs  of, 
601;  coroner  in,  603;  jail  in, 
641;  negro  tried  in,  673;  ii, 
military  quota  required  of, 
n;  militia  officers  in,  24; 
obtains  arms  from  England, 
39,  40;  imports  military 
equipment,  44;  bullets  im- 
pressed in,  51;  provision  by, 
for  Indian  march,  90,  92,  106; 
pirates  imprisoned  in,  204; 
warned  of  pirates'  presence, 
218;  celebrates  birth  of  Prince 
of  Wales,  285;  fined  for  neg- 
lecting to  elect  a  Burgess, 
430;  assessment  for  benefit 
of  Burgesses  of,  443;  people 
of,  allowed  to  pass  by-laws, 
516;  levies  in,  567,  568;  taxes 
collected  in,  572 

Middle  Temple,  i,  321 


676 


Index 


Middleton  Parish,  i,  26,  78 

Mildmay,  Sir  Henry,  ii,  253 

Miles,  i,  Adam,  436;  David,  424 

Military  Association,  ii,  82  et 
seq. 

Militia,  ii,  the  age  of  enlistment 
for,  4;  who  required  to  serve, 
5-9;  how  those  fit  for  service 
ascertained,  9;  number  of, 
9,  10;  wages  of,  12-14;  the 
commander  of,  15-19;  com- 
missioners of,  20,  21,  22; 
officers  of,  23-25;  comman- 
der-in-chief of,^  27-29;  prepa- 
ration for  military  service, 
61  et  seq.;  participation  in 
Indian  marches,  78-95;  gen- 
eral comment  on  system  of, 
626-628 

Millby,  John,  ii,  543,  544 

Miller,  Nicholas,  i,  342 

Milner,  John,  ii,  24 

Milner,  Thomas,  i,  382,  383;  ii, 
358,  470 

Minor,  John,  i,  535 

Missionaries,  i,  225-227,  230 

Mobjack  Bay,  ii,  218 

Mode,  Giles,  i,  433 

Monagan,  Robert,  i,  311 

Monday,  Thomas,  i,  642 

Money,  Phyllis,  i,  284 

Monger,  i,  341 

Mongom,  Philip,  i,  509 

Monmouth's  Rebellion,  ii,  284, 

527 
Monro,    i,   Rev.    Andrew,    200; 

Rev.  John,  142,  200 
Monroe,  James,  i,  401 
Montague,  Peter,  i,  134;  ii;  439 
Monthly  Court,  see  Justices  of 

County  Court,  County  Court 
Montone,  John,  i,  267 
Moon,  John,  i,  26,  357 
Moore,  i:  Hannah,  88;  James,  436 
Moore,  ii:  Gilbert,  215;  Thomas, 

215 
More,  i:  James,  41;  John,  406 
Moreau,  Nicholas,  i,  123,  125 
Morgan,  i:  Evan,  428;  Rowland, 

39 
Morris,  i:  Eleanor,  285;  George, 

434 
Morryson,  Charles,  i,  24 
Morryson,    Francis,    i,    attacks 

Rev.    Mr.    Godwyn,  136; 


ii,  commands  the  fort  at 
Point  Comfort,  140, 144;  mem- 
ber of  committee  to  obtain 
charter,  281;  becomes  Lieu- 
tenant-Governor, 307;  slan- 
dered, 354;  condemns  the 
exorbitant  charges  of  James- 
town innkeepers,  442;  con- 
tention with  Burgesses  in 
1677,  495,  496;  propounds 
the  basis  of  a  new  charter, 
504;  sent  to  England  to  ob- 
tain new  charter,  520,  530,  532 
Morryson,  Richard,  ii,  140,  142, 

347 
Mortimer,  George,  1,  406 
Morton,  Andrew,  ii,  90 
Moseley,  Susan,  i,  444 
Moseley,  William,  i,  gives  direc- 
tions   for    education    of    his 
children,  305;  his  collection  of 
books,  413;  his  death  referred 
to,  491;  ii,  officer  of  militia, 
25;     receives     allowance     for 
powder,  50 
Moseley,     William,     of     Essex 

county,  i,  531 
Motherhead,  Samuel,  i,  324 
Mottram,  John,  i,  421,  559;  ii,  25 
Moundfort,  Thomas,  i,  72 
Mulberry  Island,  i,  178;  ii,  33 
Mulberry  Island  Parish,  i,  27 
Mullikin,  i,  398 
Muse,  Henry,  ii,  154 
Musket,  i,  23;  ii,  38  et  seq. 
Muster-General,  ii,  64,  323 

Nansemond  County,  i,  vacant 
pulpits  in,  1680,  124;  land 
deeded  to,  by  Hugh  Campbell, 
191;  Quakers  of,  indicted, 
241;  missionary  Quakers  ac- 
tive in,  241;  seat  of  a  Puri- 
tan settlement,  253;  petition 
of  Hugh  Campbell  about 
remote  inhabitants  of,  333, 
336;  records  of,  440;  signa- 
tures to  grievances  of,  in 
1676,  459;  cost  of  criminal 
trials  in,  670;  piracy  in,  677; 
ii,  military  quota  required  of, 
in  1686,  11;  Bridger  com- 
mands militia  in,  22;  militia 
officers  in,  23;  colonels  in,  24; 
regulars   billeted  in,  in  1677, 


Index 


677 


Nansemond  County — Continued 
41;  part  of  a  military  district, 
93;  mechanics  impressed  in, 
147;  troops  in,  held  in  readi- 
ness, 166;  boundaries  laid  off, 
295;  origin  of  its  name,  299; 
quit-rents  of,  farmed  out,  578; 
value  of  quit-rents  in,  579 
Nansemond  Fort,  ii,  49, 166, 167, 

169,  172,  173 
Nansemond  Indians,  ii,  79 
Nansemond  River, i,  178;  ii,  103, 

150,  202,  219,  288 
Nanticokes,  i,  269;  ii,  80 
Nash,  i:  Eleanor,  312;  William, 

422 
Nassawaddox,  i,  232,  245 
Nassawaddox  Creek,  i,  171 
Naval  officers,  ii,  596,  597 
Navigation   Acts,    i,    689,    698- 
700,    703,    704;   ii,    180,    186, 
190,  262,  361,  594 
Neal,  Thomas,  ii,  324 
Neale,  i,  282,  314;  ii,  15,  43. 
Neck  of  Land,  ii,  33,  427 
Neech,  Daniel,  i,  85 
Negroes,     i,     education    of,     9; 
immoral  women   among,  49; 
bastardy   among,  83;    owned 
by  Rev.  Rowland  Jones,  181; 
bequest  of,  by  Rev.  Thomas 
Teakle,    182;    one    killed    by 
flogging,  213;  reference  to,  243, 
298;     educating     individuals 
among,    301,    305;    attached 
to    Eaton    free    school,    354; 
negro  criminal  hanged,   616; 
insurrection       among,      625; 
mutilation  of,  629;  plot  among, 
in      Westmoreland      county, 
672;   murders   by,   673;   rape 
by,   679;    ii,   military  service 
not  required  of,  5,  6;  misgiv-* 
ings  about,  in  1673,  199,  200 j1 
attachment      against,       447; 
taxation    of,    458,    546,    547; 
tithables      among,     548_55°; 
exempted  from  taxation,  564; 
social  influence  of,  615,  616 
Nelson,  Prevost,  i,  304 
Nethersole,  Sir  Thomas,  ii,  253 
Newce,  William,  i,  593;  ii,  15 
Newell,  i:  John,  301;  Jonathan, 

436 
New  England,  i,  land  in,  held 


by  Virginians,  179;  William 
Robinson  hanged  in,  227; 
laws  in,  against  Quakers,  231; 
asked  to  send  ministers  to 
Virginia,  254;  Rev.  Thomas 
Harrison  visits,  256;  status 
of  Puritans  in,  as  compared 
with  status  in  Virginia,  260; 
belief  in,  in  witchcraft,  278; 
referred  to,  372;  ii,  messenger 
dispatched  to,  75;  disloyalty 
of,  281;  tobacco  shipped  to, 
588;  Virginia  differed  from, 
605  et  seq. 

Newfoundland,  i,  649 

Newhouse,  Thomas,  i,  277 

New  Kent  County,  i,  organized, 
57;  no  pulpit  in,  vacant  in 
1680,  124;  records  of,  440; 
signatures  to  grievances  of, 
in  1676,  459;  divided  by  a 
river,  530;  sheriffs  of,  601;  ii, 
military  quota  required  of ,  1 1 ; 
militia  officers  in,  23,  24; 
muster  in,  28;  rumor  in,  about 
Indian  uprising,  75 ;  Ran- 
gers furnished  by,  115  et  seq.; 
originally  had  no  western 
boundaries,  297;  quit-rents 
of,  farmed  out,  578;  value  of 
quit-rents  in,  579 

New  London,  i,  179 

Newman,  i,  341 

Newport,  Captain,  i,  95,  651; 
ii,  301,  368,  404 

Newport's  News,  i,  163;  ii,  33, 

Newton,  i:  Francis,  372;  George, 
601;  John,  518,  583 

New  York,  i,  400;  ii,  75,  209, 
308,  388,  528,  587 

Nicholls,  William,  i,  421 

Nicholson,  Governor,  i,  favors 
education  of  Indians,  9;  proc- 
lamation respecting  Sabbath 
observance,  35;  contributes  to 
erection  of  church  in  Lower 
Norfolk  county,  103;  seeks 
to  obtain  clergymen  from 
England,  124;  enumerates 
clergy  in  1760,  125;  informs 
the  parishes  of  the  com- 
missary's proposed  visita- 
tion, 128;  controversy  with 
Rev.     Mr.     Blair,     129;     im- 


678 


Index 


Nicholson,  Governor — Continued 
powered  to  collate  to  benefices, 
131;  instructions  about  the 
clergy  in  1698,  137;  accepts 
Captain  Hugh  Campbell's 
offer,  191;  authorized  to 
remove  clergymen,  204;  pro- 
nounces the  Virginia  people 
faithful  to  the  Anglican 
church,  218;  proclamation,  in 
1691,  warning  Quakers,  248; 
attitude  toward  dissenters, 
262;  inserts  clause  about 
witchcraft  in  commission  oi 
county  justices,  283;  in- 
structions about  schoolmas- 
ters, 334;  proposes  to  convert 
old  Jamestown  court-house 
into  a  schoolhouse,  335;  in- 
terested in  the  welfare  of  the 
schools,  335;  contributes  his 
fees  towards  remuneration 
of  teachers,  336;  consigns  his 
Yorktown  lot  to  the  use  of  a 
schoolmaster,  337;  revives 
design  of  the  College,  381; 
warrant  for  College's  benefit 
made  payable  to,  391;  interest 
in  Indian  education  at  the 
College,  397;  congratulates 
the  Burgesses  on  the  opening 
of  the  College,  399;  urges 
removal  of  the  capital  to 
Williamsburg,  400;  procla- 
mation by,  in  1690,  486; 
prescribes  term  of  the  county 
court,  517;  contributes  to  the 
erection  of  a  court-house  at 
Yorktown,  529;  his  procla- 
mation in  1 69 1,  543;  his 
proclamation  respecting  at- 
torneys, 568 ;  refers  to  meeting 
of  Burgesses,  655;  encourages 
formality  in  legal  procedure, 
664;  letter  by,  respecting  the 
Court  of  Admiralty,  701;  ii, 
proposes  that  the  servants 
shall  bear  arms,  6,  7;  military 
activity  of,  28,  29;  saves  the 
powder,  49;  inquires  into  the 
condition  of  the  forts,  167, 
168;  orders  the  return  of  the 
munitions,  170;  order  about 
Tyndall  Point  guns,  171; 
asks    for    a    fireship,   183; 


authorizes  the  impressment 
of  seamen,  187,  188;  his  efforts 
to  suppress  the  pirates,  208- 
226;  appointed  Lieutenant- 
Governor,  307;  his  salary  as 
such,  308;  inauguration  of,  as 
Governor,  313,  314;  describes 
his  own  administration,  321; 
serves  first  as  Lieutenant- 
Governor,  333;  fails  to  induce 
the  Burgesses  to  build  a 
residence  for  the  Governor, 
338,  339;  grant  to,  350;  im- 
powered  to  fill  vacancies  in 
his  Council,  371;  refers  to  the 
distance  the  Council  ors  had 
to  travel,  379;  instructed  to 
require  the  Councillors  to 
obey  court  summons,  384; 
visits  different  parts  of  the 
Colony,  390;  refers  to  de- 
struction of  the  State-House, 
456;  prefers  Middle  Planta- 
tion as  site  of  the  capital, 
459;  urges  the  Assembly  in 
1699  to  elect  a  Speaker,  470; 
submits  his  Instructions  to 
the  General  Assembly,  498; 
orders  persons  criticising  laws 
of  Virginia  in  a  contemptuous 
spirit  to  be  indicted,  502; 
address  before  the  Assembly 
on  the  revision  of  the  laws, 
512;  seeks  right  to  tax  with- 
out intervention  of  Burgesses, 
530;  instructed  to  abolish  the 
poll  tax,  546;  ordered  to 
appoint  no  one  collector  who 
was  engaged _ in  trade,  595; 
urges  a  consolidation  of  offices 
in  Colony,  601 

Nomini,  ii,  389 

Norfolk  County,  i,  land  deeded 
to,  by  Captain  Hugh  Camp- 
bell, 191 ;  Presbyterians  obtain 
a  foothold  in,  262,  263;  Camp- 
bell's petition  respecting  re- 
mote inhabitants  of,  333,  336; 
ii,  appoints  a  patrol  against 
pirates,  214;  had  no  western 
boundaries  at  first,  297 

North,  Richard,  i,  594 

Northampton  County,  i,  punish- 
ment for  adultery  committed 
in,   48;   for   bastardy   in,   49; 


Index 


679 


Northampton  County — Cont'd 
for  slander  in,  52;  divided 
into  parishes,  56;  substituted 
as  a  name  for  Accomac,  56; 
election  of  a  vestry  in,  69; 
depositions  relating  to  a 
vestry  in,  73;  churchwardens 
in,  80;  Rev.  Mr.  Doughty 
chosen  minister  in,  133;  finds 
it  difficult  to  support  two 
clergymen,  151;  a  Quaker 
witness  in,  179;  William 
Robinson  arrested  in,  in  1657, 
220;  action  of  the  justices  of, 
in  1660,  respecting  a  Quaker, 
231;  lenient  treatment  of 
Quakers  in,  232;  Quakers  in, 
decline  to  swear  in  court,  241 ; 
a  Quaker  meeting  house  in, 
245;  a  case  of  witchcraft  in, 
280;  stroking  the  dead  in, 
289;  instances  in,  of  provision 
by  will  for  education  of 
children^  298,  300-306;  in- 
stances in,  of  provision  by 
court  for  education  of  orphans 
and  apprentices,  310,  313; 
a  young  man  from,  educated 
in  England,  319,  320,  322; 
private  tutors  in,  324-326; 
owners  of  books  in,  405,  406, 
408,  430-433;  ^  justices  of, 
sworn  in,  500;  a  violent  scene  in 
courtroom  of,  509;  justices  of, 
aspersed,  511;  punishment  in, 
for  indignity  to  county  court, 
513,  514;  terms  of  its  court, 
520,  521;  order  of  its  court 
respecting  justices'  absences, 
522;  court-house  in,  536,  537; 
King's  attorney  in,  570;  law- 
yers in,  576,  577;  a  sheriff 
for,  appointed  in  1669,  596; 
sheriffs  of,  601 ;  coroner  of,  603 ; 
punishment  for  adultery  in, 
62 1 ;  its  grand  jury  abused,  622 ; 
whipping  post  in,  627;  duck- 
ing stool  in,  630;  punish- 
ment for  slander  in,  631;  jail 
in,  643;  prison  charges  in,  646; 
negro  murderer  in,  673;  juris- 
•  diction  of  county  court  in, 
683;  appeals  from,  692;  ii, 
military  quota  required  of, 
in     1686,     11;     epidemic     of 


small-pox  in,  17;  militia  of, 
reviewed  by  Nicholson,  29; 
impresses  private  arms,  50; 
Captain  Ingle  in,  54;  a  promi- 
nent citizen  of,  59;  provision 
by,  for  Indian  marches,  82; 
sets  a  watch  against  pirates, 
214-216;  Secretary's  lands  in, 
leased,  400;  where  Burgesses 
were  elected  in,  418;  how 
Burgesses  were  chosen  in,  in 
1642,  419;  number  of  Bur- 
gesses from,  428;  people  of, 
allowed  to  pass  by-laws,  515, 
516;  agitation  of  taxation  in, 
543;  number  of  tithables  in, 
555;  taxes  collected  in,  by 
sheriff,  571;  quit-rents  of, 
farmed  out,  578;  value  of 
quit-rents  in,  579 
Northern  Neck,  i,  43,  203;  panic 
in,  in  1688,  270;  Brent  serves 
as  Ranger-General  of,  273; 
private  tutors  in,  324;  owners 
of  books  residing  in,  421  et 
seq.;  fine  for  disrespect  to 
judgesin,  514;  negro  plot  in, 
672;  ii,  murders  by  Indians 
in,  86;  assessments  in,  for 
Burgesses'  expenses,  439;  its 
restoration  to  the  Colony 
sought  by  the  Assembly,  521; 
tax  for  purchase  of,  565; 
Culpeper  retains  the  quit- 
rents  of,  580 
North  Farnham  Parish,  i,  68,  90 
Northumberland  County,  i,  va- 
cant pulpits  in,  in  1680,  124; 
John  Montone  a  resident  of, 
267;  instances  of  evil  powers 
occurring  in,  282;  private 
tutors  in,  324;  justices  of, 
approve  petition  for  a  free 
school,  357;  owners  of  books 
residing  in,  408,  421,  422;  the 
court-house  in,  535;  sheriffs 
of,  601;  a  hanging  in,  616; 
criminal  charges  in,  670;  ii, 
military  quota  required  of, 
in  1686,  11;  Richard  Lee  com- 
mands militia  in,  22;  imports 
military  articles  from  Eng- 
land, 45;  provision  by,  for 
Indian  march,  85,  89,  92; 
provision    by,    for    Potomac 


68o 


Index 


Northumberland  County — Con'd 
garrison,  107;  warned  of  pi- 
rates' presence,  218;  St.  Leger 
Codd  chosen  as  Burgess  for, 
422;  assessment  in,  for  benefit 
of  the  Burgess,  444;  people 
of,  allowed  to  pass  by-laws, 
516;  levy  in,  539;  levies  in, 
567,  568;  quit-rents  of,  farmed 
out,  578;   value  of  quit-rents 

in,  579 
Norwood,  Henry,  11,  576,  604 
Norwood,  John,  i,  166 
Nottingham,  William,  ii,  55 
Nuthead,  William,  i,  402 
Nutmeg  Quarter,  i,  58 
Nuttall,  John,  ii,  50 

Oaths  of  office,  i,  500,  501 
Occaquan  River,  ii,  118 
Opechancanough,  i,  8 
Orchard,  James,  i,  536,  643 
Orchards,  i,  619 
Orphans,  i,  85,  86,  546 
Orphans'  Court,  i,  546 
Osborne, Thomas,  i,  368 ;  ii,  35,  56 
Overzee,  Simon,  i,  no 
Owen,  i,  Bartholomew,  32; 

Hugh,  575,  576 
Owen,  Evan,  ii,  563 
Owens,  Thomas,  i,  235 
Oxford  University,  i,  318 
Oyer   and  Terminer,  writ  of,  i, 

476,  666,  671-673,  677,  705 

Pace's  Paines,  ii,  33 

Page,  Alice,  i,  in 

Page,  Francis,  i,  304,  566;  ii,  25 

Page,  John,  i,  subscribes  to 
fund  for  erecting  church  at 
Middle  Plantation,  103;  owns 
pew  in  Bruton  church,  107; 
trustee  of  William  and  Mary 
College,  382,  383;  his  culture, 
443 ;  buys  law  books  for  York 
county,  557;  practises  law  in 
York  county,  575;  serves  as 
sheriff,  601;  ii,  officer  of 
militia,  24;  reports  deficiency 
in  arms,  38;  custodian  of 
munitions,  43;  sued,  163;  in- 
spects the  Jamestown  fort, 
167;  revisor  of  the  Acts,  510 

Page,  Matthew,  ii,  25,  174 

Page,  Stephen,  i,  434 


Paine,  Elizabeth,  i,  85 

Palmer,  i:  Edward,  372;  John, 
372,  428;  Samuel,  270,  271 

Palmer,  Thomas,  ii,  172 

Pamunkey  Neck,  i,  petition  of 
its  inhabitants,  57;  referred 
to»  387>  388l  lands  in,  leased 
by  College,  396 

Pamunkey  Indians,  ii,  80,  81 

Pamunkey  River,  ii,  118, 

Pannewell,  John,  i,  24 

Pannill,  i,  24,  680 

Panton,  Rev.  Anthony,  i,  208, 
209,  465;  ii,  393 

Papists,  see  Roman  Catholics 

Parish  Court,  i,  482 

Parishes,  i,  when  first  estab- 
lished, 55;  how  established,  55, 
56,  58;  division  of,  57;  union 
of,  58;  disappearance  of,  59; 
number  of,  in  1661,  60;  pro- 
tected from  expense  in  cases 
of  bastardy,  83,  84;  provide 
for  orphans,  85;  for  the  poor, 
87-90;  collections  for  ex- 
penses of,  91;  sheriffs  collect 
dues  of,  92,  93;  inhabitants 
of  each  required  to  build  a 
church,  98,  101;  contract  for 
same,  104,  105;  material 
entering  into  parish  church, 
106;  purchase  of  plate  for, 
112;  vacant  pulpits  in  im- 
poverished, 152;  amount  paid 
in  each  to  its  clergyman  in 
1666,  152;  glebes  attached  to, 
163-165;  gifts  of  land  for 
glebes,  166,  167;  condition 
of  glebes  in  1695,  168,  169; 
all  christenings,  burials,  and 
marriages  in,  required  to  be 
reported,  186;  their  area  as 
compared  with  that  of  Eng- 
lish parishes,  192,  193;  Quak- 
ers required  to  pay  parish 
dues  after  Act  of  Toleration, 
246;  status  of,  during  Pro- 
tectorate, 258;  ii,  represented 
in  the  Assembly,  429,  430; 
allowed  to  pass  by-laws,  515, 
517;  levy  for  benefit  of,  534 

Parke,  Daniel,  i,  sells  brick  for 
College  building,  394;  member 
of  York  county  bar,  575; 
serves  as  sheriff,  601 


Index 


68 1 


Parke,  Daniel,  Jr.,  ii,  6n 
Parke,  Rev.  Robert,  i,  owns 
a  grist-mill,  180;  controversy 
with  Rev.  Mr.  Thompson, 
190;  referred  to,  200;  illiteracy 
of  wife  of,  456 
Parker,    i:    George,  319;   John, 

579 
Parkes,  Charles,  i,  24,  432;    ii, 

59 
Parkes,    i:    Rev.    Henry,    200; 

Thomas,  600 
Parkes,  John,  ii,  26 
Parks,  Thomas,  ii,  386 
Parliament,    ii,    230-237,    249, 

261,  262,  274-277,   314,  352, 

365,  406,  432,  477,  478,  486, 

501,  524 
Parramore,  Francis,  1,  20 
Parrott,  see  Perrott 
Parry,  William,  i,  365 
Parsonage,  i,  the  first  erected  in 

Virginia,  170;  a  typical,  170 
Paspeheigh,  ii,  33,  341 
Passenger,  William,  ii,  188,  218, 

221,  222 
Patrick,  Judith,  i,  245 
Patuxent,  i,  232 
Pawlett,  Rev.  Robert,  i,  200 
Payne,  John,  ii,  90 
Payne,  William,  i,  583 
Peachey,  i:  Robert,  672;  Samuel, 

90 
Peacock,  i,  299 
Peasley,  Henry,  i,  358 
Peatle,  John,  i,  332 
Pedinton,  Henry,  i,  431 
Pell,  William,  i,  312 
Pemberton,  Rev.  Mr.,  i,  200 
Pembroke,  Lord,  ii,  270,  393 
Penley,  William,  i,  431 
Pennsylvania,  i,  247,   248,  400; 

"'  528 
Pennsylvania,  ship,  ii,  221 
Pensions,  ii,  81 

Percy,  George,  ii,  126,  312,  340 
Perkins,  Rev.  Mr.,  i,  works  of, 

presented  to  the  Indian  Col- 
lege, 365 
Perkins,    Rev.    Thomas,    i,    his 

books,  174,  428;  his  personal 

estate,  180 
Perkins,  Susannah,  i,  439 
Perrin,  Sebastian,  i,  304 
Perrott,  Henry,  i,  319,  568 


Perrott,  Richard,  ii,  465 
Perry,  ii:  John,  75;  William,  137 
Perry,  Macajah,  i,  396 
Perry  and  Lane,  i,  394,  395 
Persey's    Hundred,    ii,    33;     see 

Pierce's  Hundred 
Peters,  i,  596;  ii,  173 
Petersburg,  ii,  100 
Pettit,  Francis,  i,  304 
Peyton,  i:  Robert,  579;  Valen- 
tine, 583 
Pheters,  Daniel,  i,  342 
Philip,  John,  i,  532 
Phillips,    i:    James,    184;    Law- 
rence, 72,  210;  Matthew,  622 
Phillips,  John,  ii,  90 
Physicians,  i,  90 
Pierce,  Abraham,  ii,  133 
Pierce's  Hundred,  ii,  133 
Pierce's  Plantation,  i,  363 
Pierce,   William,   i,   674;   ii,   24, 

79.  133.  352,  357 
Pigott,  i:  Francis,  303,  406,  491, 
577;  John,   412,   508;   Sarah, 

304 

Pike,  Henry,  ii,  285 

Pilgrim  Fathers,  i,  253 

Pillory,  i,  628 

Pinkard,  John,  i,  424 

Piracy,  i,  676,  677;  ii,  3,  203- 
226 

Piscataway,  King  of,  ii,  75 

Pitman,  John,  i,  479 

Pitt,  ii:  John,  24;  William,  532 

Pitts,  ii,  544 

Pitts,  i:  John,  287^  Thomas,  417 

Plantation  Creek,  i,  47 

Plant-cutters,  i,  632,  675,  676; 
ii,  320 

Plate,  i,  1 09-1 1 1 

Piatt,  i,  313 

Pleasants,  John,  i,  indicted  as  a 
Quaker,  242;  bequeaths  slaves, 
243;  devises  a  site  for  a 
Quaker  meeting-house,  245; 
reports  number  of  Quaker 
meeting-houses,  249;  appears 
in  court  as  a  suitor,  508;  ii, 
petitions  for  military  exemp- 
tion, 9 

Plymouth,  ii,  343 

Pocahontas,  i,  her  conversion, 
7;  rescues  Smith,  651;  ii, 
her  association  with  names  of 
counties,  299 


682 


Index 


Point    Comfort,  ii,  126,   135    et 
seq.,  151,   190,  305,  313,  314. 
See  Fort  Point  Comfort. 
Pooley,  Rev.  Greville,  i,  preaches 
before    Dale,    11;    his  estate, 
177;   fills  pulpit  at  Fleur-de- 
Hundred,  199 
Poor,  The,  i,  gifts  to,  26;  provi- 
sion  for,    by   churchwardens, 
87 ;  liberal  treatment  of,  88, 89 
Pope,  John,  i,  47  . 
Pope,  Nathaniel,  i,  324;  ii,  21 
Poquoson    Parish,    i,    drunken- 
ness in,  40;  new  church  for, 
projected,  103;  grant  of  land 
for  church  of,  104;  Jonathan 
Davis  officiates  in,  127;  con- 
tingent gift  of  glebe  to,  166; 
Rev.    Mr.   Wright  rector   of, 
184 
Poquoson  River,  i,  351,  353 
Porge,  Jane,  i,  421 
Porter,  i:  Rev.  James,  153,  200, 
681;    John,    238,    240,    491; 
John,  Jr.,  510,  511;  Peter,  100, 
148;  William,  559 
Porter,  Robert,  i,  415;  ii,  563 
Pory,  ii,  251,  311,  392 
Potomac  Fort,  ii,  102  et  seq.,  539 
Potomac  River,  ii,  76,  93,  102, 
107,  109,  150,  154,  167,  218, 
5i6 
Pott,  Francis,  i,  aids  in  deposing 
Harvey,  674;  commands  the 
fort  at  Point  Comfort,  138 
Pott,  John,  i,  550;  ii,  267,  356 
Potter,  Cuthbert,  i,  631;  ii,  164 
Pountis,  John,  ii,  519 
Povey,  John,  i,  689;  ii,  521 
Powder,  ii,  32,  33  et  seq.,  46  et  seq. 
Powell,  i:  John,  210;  Mary,  211 
Powell,  Major,  ii,  195,  196 
Power,  Henry,  i,  438 
Powers,  John,  i,  439 
Powis,  Rev.  Robert,  i,  his  books, 
173;   his   estate,    178;   serves 
without  remuneration,  179; de- 
fendant in  a  suit,  185 
Powis,  Robert,  Jr.,  i,  179 
Poythress,  Francis,  ii,  84 
Presbyterians,  i,  262,  263 
Prescott,  Edward,  ii,  448 
President  of  the  Council,  ii,  387, 

403 

Press,  Bridgett,  i,  88 


Pressly,  Peter,  ii,  444 

Preston,  Richard,  ii,  83 

Pretty,  Rev.  Henry,  i,  200 

Price,  i:  Rev.  Daniel,  5;  Rich- 
ard,   512 

Princess  Anne  County,  i,  pro- 
fanity in,  44;  old  brick  church 
in,  106;  cases  of  imputed  witch- 
craft in,  286,  287;  testamen- 
tary provision  in,  for  educa- 
tion of  children,  305;  owners 
of  books  residing  in,  416; 
court-houses  in,  526,  527;  a 
lawyer  of,  575;  jails  in,  641; 
ii,  appoints  a  patrol  against 
pirates,  214;  pirates  hanged  in, 
224;  its  origin,  297;  why  so 
named,  299 

Printing-press,  i,  402,  403 

Prisons,  i,  to  be  erected  in  each 
county,  633,  634;  frailty  of, 
635;  in  York  county,  638; 
in  Lower  Norfolk  county, 
640;  in  Princess  Anne  and 
Middlesex  counties,  641 ;  in 
Lancaster  and  ^  Rappahan- 
nock, 641,  642;  in  Richmond 
and  Westmoreland,  643;  on 
the  Eastern  Shore,  643,  644; 
prison  charges,  645,  646 

Pritchard,  i:  Francis,  358;  Rob- 
ert, 34 

Privateers,  ii,  207,  208 

Privy  Chamber,  i,  367 

Privy  Council  i,  receives  letter 
about  Virginia  clergy,  119; 
investigates  charges  against 
Rev.  Mr.  Panton,  209;  solici- 
tude of,  about  Anglican  forms 
in  Virginia,  216;  orders  proc- 
lamation to  be  made  of 
Declaration  of  Freedom  of 
Conscience,  244;  besought 
to  exclude  Papists  from  Vir- 
ginia, 265;  referred  to,  694; 
ii,  Harvey  writes  to,  72 ;  Wyatt 
writes  to,  79;  General  Assem- 
bly suggests  a  great  palisade 
to,  98;  complains  about  the 
condition  of  the  forts  in  Vir- 
ginia, 131;  urged  by  Wyatt 
to  require  the  erection  of 
forts,  132;  orders  the  restora- 
tion of  the  fort  at  Point  Com- 
fort,   136,    146;    defines    the 


Index 


683 


Privy  Council — Continued 

manner  in  which  the  fort 
duties  shall  be  paid,  144; 
report  to,  in  1623,  relative  to 
the  London  Company,  250; 
supreme  in  authority  over 
Virginia,  256;  relations  to  the 
Colony,  267-273;  General 
Assembly  protests  to,  about 
Governor's  term,  310;  orders 
from,  to  Governor,  316;  ad- 
dress to,  by  Burgesses  in 
1 63 1,  342;  compliant  to  Berke- 
ley, 348;  choice  of  Councillors 
had  to  be  approved  by,  369; 
nominations  of  Councillors 
now  to  be  reported  to,  371; 
Howard  complains  to,  497; 
Harvey  makes  a  suggestion  to, 
503;  copies  of  laws  sent  to, 
505;  receives  a  petition  from 
Chichely,  576 

Probate  Court,  i,  547 

Processioning,  i,  606 

Proctor,  George,  i,  418 

Profanity,  i,  early  laws  relating 
to,  42;  prevalence  of,  in 
Henrico  County,  42-44;  in 
other  counties,  43,  44 

Protectorate,  the,  i,  490,  492; 
ii,  262,  302,  311,  346,  352, 
394,  429,  468,  490,  491,  492, 
54L  562 

Provost  Marshal,  i,  592-594 

Pryor,  William,  i,  529 

Puckett,  William,  ii,  96 

Pungoteaque,  ii,  194 

Punishments,  i,  more  lenient 
in  Virginia  than  in  England, 
611-615;  by  the  gallows,  616- 
618;  by  fines,  619;  by  the 
lash,  621-626;  by  the  whip- 
ping post,  626;  by  the  stocks, 
627;  by  the  pillory,  628;  by 
the  ducking  stool,  629,  630; 
by  humiliation  in  court-room, 
630-632 

Purdy,  Sarah,  i,  35 

Purefoy,  Thomas,  ii,  137 

Puritans,  i,  doctrine  as  to  bap- 
tism, 220;  their  status  in 
Virginia  during  the  Protec- 
torate, 228;  effect  on,  of  Act 
of  Uniformity,  252,  259;  first 
colony  of,    in    Virginia,   253; 


Puritan  clergymen  visit  Vir- 
ginia, 254;  converts  in  Vir- 
ginia to  the  faith  of  the,  255- 
257;  Rev.  Mr.  Harrison 
banished,  257;  condition  of, 
during  Protectorate,  258 ;  char- 
acter of,  in  Virginia  259,  260; 
supposed  attitude  of,  tow- 
ards the  Government,  263 

Puritan  supremacy,  i,  election 
of  churchwardens  during,  80; 
causes  emigration  of  clergy- 
men from  England,  120;  great 
demand  in  Virginia  for  clergy- 
men during,  120;  no  tolera- 
tion for  Quakers  during,  228; 
condition  of  church  in  Vir- 
ginia during,  258;  see  Pro- 
tectorate 

Pursell,  Philip,  ii,  444 

Purvis,  Captain,  ii,  183 

Purvis,  John,  i,  42 

Purvis's  Laws,  ii,  509 

Quakers,  i,  early  indictments  of, 
32;  indictment  of,  in  York 
county,  34;  attack  the  clergy, 
179;  punished  by  General 
Court,  215;  their  doctrine 
respecting  baptism,  220; 
spirit  animating,  222;  why 
they  were  opposed,  223; 
why  their  influence  spread, 
224;  their  missionaries,  226, 
227;  rigid  laws  against,   226, 

228,  230;    defiant    spirit    of, 

229,  233,  234;  attempted 
suppression  of,  in  Lower 
Norfolk  county,  231-236;  in 
Northampton,  231;  in  York 
county,  236;  laws  against, 
in  1663,  238;  assemble  in 
large  numbers,  239;  sternly 
treated,  240,  242;  effect  on, 
of  the  Toleration  Act,  244- 
246;  subject  still  to  sus- 
picion, 247-249;  decline  of, 
250,  251;  their  supposed  atti- 
tude towards  the  Govern- 
ment, 263;  their  custom  of 
covering  the  head,  514; 
referred  to  in  indictments, 
606;  imprisonment  of,  636; 
ii,  exempted  from  military 
service,  8 


684 


Index 


Quaker,  ship,  ii,  1 80 
Quarry,  Robert,  ii,  209,  210 
Queen  Creek,  ii,  563 
Quigley,  John,  ii,  108 
Quit-rents,  see  Taxation 

Randolph,  Edward,  i,  700,  701, 

706;  ii,  576,  594 
Randolph,  Henry,  1,  419;  11,  479, 

577 
Randolph,  William,  i,  indicted 
for  profanity,  43;  appointed 
executor,  243;  his  culture, 
443;  sustains  the  dignity  of 
his  court,  482;  conscientious- 
ness as  a  judge,  508;  imports 
Bartholomew  Fowler,  576; 
serves  as  a  coroner,  603; 
serves  as  an  administrator, 
604;  Attorney-General,  689; 
ii,  officer  of  militia,  25;  gives 
information  to  court,  48; 
assessment  for  benefit  of,  as 
Burgess,  444;  elected  Speaker, 

471 

Rangers,  ii,  attached  in  the  be- 
ginning to  the  garrisons,  115; 
muster  of,  116;  provisions 
for  the  organization  of,  117; 
special  bodies  of,  called  into 
service,  118;  cost  of  support- 
ing, 120;  life  of,  121,  122 

Rankin,  Henry,  i,  630 

Rape,  i,  679 

Rappahannock  County,  i,  elec- 
tion of  a  vestry  in,  68; 
vestry  of  Sittingbourne  Parish 
in,  indicted,  81;  justices  of, 
try  charges  against  Rev. 
Mr.  Doughty,  219;  supposed 
Papist  conspiracy  in,  270; 
instances  of  provision  by  will 
for  education  of  children 
in,  299,  303;  provision  in,  for 
education  of  orphans  and 
apprentices,  312,  313;  chil- 
dren from,  educated  in  Eng- 
land, 319,  320;  owners  of 
books  in,  405,  406,  408,  427- 
429;  a  suit  in,  479;  punish- 
ment in,  for  disrespect  to 
court,  514;  terms  of  its  court, 
520;  court-house  in,  530; 
divided  at  first  by  the 
river,    530;    members   of    its 


bar,  580;  pillory  in,  628;  jail 
in,  642;  ii,  military  quota 
required  of,  11 ;  militia  officers 
in,  24;  orders  weapons  in 
private  hands  to  be  reported, 
43;  orders  military  articles 
from  England,  44;  provides 
for  a  garrison  surgeon,  108; 
Rangers  furnished  by,  115 
et  seq.;  celebrates  birth  of 
Prince  of  Wales,  284;  loyalty 
of,  to  William  and  Mary,  286; 
value  of  quit-rents  in,  579 

Rappahannock  Fort,  ii,  49,  104- 
107,  165,  166,  194 

Rappahannock  River,  i,  59,  483, 
532,  533.  642;  ii,  76,  85,  86, 
93,  102, 108, 109, 118,  119,  150, 
167,  173,  183,  194,  202,  218 

Ratcliffe,  President,  i,  648,  651, 
652;  ii,  303.  335.  353.  368 

Rawlings,  Edward,  ii,  169 

Raymond,  i,  267,  274 

Read,  Benjamin,  i,  27,  72;  John, 
272 

Read,  James,  i,  651;  ii,  353 

Reade,  i,  234;  ii,  150 

Reade,  Francis,  ii,  226 

Readers,  i,  189,  191 

Recordation,  i,  548,  549;  ii,  625 

Reikes,  Stephen,  i,  265 

Religious  feeling,  i,  public  in- 
terest in  conversion  of  the 
Indians,  3-9;  piety  of  early 
colonists,  10-14;  observance 
of  fast  days,  15-18;  piety  in 
expression  of  wills,  18-21;  in 
letters,  21;  gifts  of  religious 
books,  22,  23;  religious  books 
in  inventories,  23-26;  testa- 
mentary gifts  to  poor,  26 

Reynolds,  i:  Thomas,  414;  Wil- 
liam, 324,  326 

Rhode  Island,  ii,  204 

Rice,  i:  Dominick,  320;  Stephen, 
320 

Rich,  Sir  Nathaniel,  ii,  253 

Richardson,  David,  i,  127 

Richens,  Penelope,  i,  481 

Richmond  City,  i,  222;  ii,  298 

Richmond  County,  i,  removal 
of  vestrymen  in,  69;  tutor  in, 
327;  owners  of  books  in,  426; 
court-house  in,  536;  its  bar, 
583 ;  its  jail,  643 ;  ii,  levy  in,  538 


Index 


68S 


Richneck,  ii,  402 

Rickets,  Mary,  ii,  187 

Ricks,  i,  669 

Riddick,  Henry,  i,  268 

Rigby,  Peter,  i,  165 

Riggin,  John,  i,  624 

Ring,  Joseph,  ii,  47 

Roanoke  River,  ii,  63,  82 

Roanoke,  ship,  ii,  212,  214 

Roberts,  Thomas,  i,  320,  429 

Robins,  i:  John,  59;  Samson, 
39;  Simon,  583;    William,  594 

Robinson,  i:  Andrew,  418;  Rev. 
George,  200;  John,  649; 
Mary,  97,  109 

Robinson,  Christopher,  i,  321, 
382,  673;  ii,  44,  90,  395 

Robinson,  Richard,  i,  581,  641; 
ii,  90,  285 

Robinson,  William,  i,  heretical 
opinions  of,  220;  holds  Quaker 
meetings,  226;  hanged,  227; 
citizens  ordered  not  to  en- 
tertain him,  232 

Robinson,  William,  2nd,  i,  491, 
565,  668 

Rochdale  Hundred,  ii,  288 

Rock  Hall,  i,  170 

Rogers,  John,  i,  324 

Rolfe,  ii:  John,  391;  Thomas, 
101 

Roman  Catholics,  i,  could  not 
endure    Rev.    Mr.  Lawrence, 

.  181;  supposed  attitude  of, 
towards  the  Government,  263, 
264;  dislike  of,  in  Virginia 
in  early  years,  264,  265;  de- 
prived of  civil  rights,  266,272; 
Father  Raymond,  267;  pun- 
ishment for  criticising  the 
King's  attitude  towards,  in 
1688,  268;  panic  about,  in 
1688,  269-271;  number  of,  in 
Virginia  in  1681,  274;  causes 
of  feeling  against,  274,  275; 
rumor  of  a  plot  by,  to  seize 
fort  at  Point  Comfort,  355 

Rooke,  Thomas,  ii,  449 

Rookings,  i:  Jane,  279;  William, 
302 

Roscow,  William,  i,  506 

Rose,  John,  i,  479 

Rosegill,  i,  318;  ii,  337 

Rosier,  Rev.  John,  i,  marriage 
and  burial  fees  of,  160;  owns 


land  in  Virginia,  178;  gives  a 
bill  for  a  large  sum,  183;  suc- 
ceeds Rev.  Mr.  Panton,  210; 
legatee  of  books,  408;  a  lega- 
tee, 430 

Ross,  Andrew,  ii,  355 

Ross,  Edward,  i,  702;  ii,  174, 
462 

Rowlett,  Peter,  i,  576 

Royal  James,  ship,  i,  347 

Royall,  i,  Henry,  354;  Joseph, 
492 

Ruggle,  Rev.  George,  i,  7 

Russell,  i:  Elizabeth,  287;  John, 
300,  480;  Richard,  235,  238, 
357,  405;  Robert,  77 

Russell,  Peter,  ii,  106 

Rutland,  George,  i,  570;  ii,  85 

Rynurse,  Pannil,  i,  289 

Sabbath  observance,  i,  regula- 
tions touching,  in  Argoll's 
time,  28;  instances  of  violation 
of,  before  1 650, 29;  special  pro- 
hibitions in  connection  with, 
31;  indictments  to  enforce,  32, 
33;  petitions  to  enforce,  34; 
instances  of  violations  after 
1650,  35-37 

Saby,  Abram,  11,  564 

Sadler,  John,  i,  107,  167,  170 

Saker,  John,  i,  309 

Salem,  i,  278 

Salmon,  Joseph,  ii,  19 

Sampson,  John,  i,  408,  428,  560 

Sam  ways,  Captain,  ii,  182 

Sanderson,  Edward,  i,  691 

Sandford,  Henry,  i,  438 

Sandford,  John,  i,  415;  ii,  354 

Sandy  Point,  ii,  202 

Sandys,  Sir  Edwin,  i,  connection 
of,  with  Indian  College,  7;  re- 
ceives sum  for  Indian  school, 
344,  345;  codifies  laws  for 
Virginia,  464;  ii,  how  far 
governed  in  his*  view  of  the 
London  Company  by  politi- 
cal hopes,  237,  243,  244; 
elected  Treasurer  of  the  Lon- 
don Company,  245;  codifies 
laws  for  Virginia,  247;  his  part 
in  the  government  of  the 
Colony,    252 

Sandys,  George,  i,  446;  ii,  33, 
261,  602 


686 


Index 


Saunders,  i:  Rev.  David,  199; 
Rev.  Jonathan,  200 

Saunders,  William,  ii,  226 

Savage,  i:  Anthony,  479;  John, 
320;  Thomas,  320 

Sayer,  i:  Francis,  300,  491,  517; 
Thomas,  300 

Scarborough,  Charles,  i,  re- 
proved for  criticising  the 
King,  268;  trustee  of  the 
College,  382,  383;  a  letter  of, 
444;  takes  oath  as  a  justice, 
500;  ordered  to  build  a  court- 
house, 538;  ii,  officer  of  militia, 
25;  petitions  the  Board  of 
Trade,  378;  fined  for  not  at- 
tending the  Assembly,  466; 
collector    of   Virginia  duties, 

593 

Scarborough,  Edmund,  i,  brings 
charges  against  Rev.  Mr. 
Teakle,  211 ;  reference  to, 
502;  member  of  the  Eastern 
Shore  bar,  576;  sheriff,  601; 
ii,  officer  of  militia,  25;  his 
view  as  to  attacking  the  In- 
dians, 73;  contracts  for  quit- 
rents,  578 

Scarborough,  Matthew,  ii,  210 

Scarborough,  William,  i,  418 

Scarbrooke,  John,i,  309 

School-masters,  i,  sometimes 
clergymen,  332,  333;  some- 
times the  parish  readers,  333 ; 
required  to  be  licensed,  334; 
to  subscribe  to  the  canons,  335 ; 
their  qualifications  had  to  be 
proven,  335;  Nicholson's  gen- 
erosity toward,  336;  county 
court  supervised,  337-339; 
fees  paid  by,  339,  340;  charges 
for  teaching  made  by,  340- 
342 

Sclater,  Rev.  James,  1,  200,  246 

Scotland,  i,  116 

Scott,  i:  Jane,  544;  Walter,  594; 
Sir  Walter,  548 

Scrimgour,  Rev.  William,  i,  174, 
200,    212 

Scrivener,  ii,  369 

Sebrel,  Nicholas,  i,  439 

Secretary  of  State,  i,  660;  ii, 
259.  306,  319,  384,  385,  391- 
402,  407,  408,  420,  491,  504, 
535,  550,  556,  629 


Seddon,  Thomas,  i,  86 
Segar,  Oliver,  i,  29,  30 
Sellick,  Rev.  William,  i,  200 
Semple,  Rev.  William,  i,  128 
Seneca  Indians,  i,  269;  ii,  42,  93 
Sergeant,  William,  i,  429 
Servants,  i,  immorality  among, 
45»  48, 50. 56;  bastardy  among, 
how    punished,    83,     84;     in 
magistrate's  court,  480,  481; 
ii,    military    service    required 
of,  5-8;  misgivings  about,  in 
J673,    199;  taxation  of,   458; 
runaways,  515;    after    termi- 
nation of  their  articles,  614; 
social    influence   of   class    of, 
615,  616,  618 
Severne,  John,  i,  325,  430 
Sewell,    Henry,    i,    obtains    me- 
chanics, 99;  burial  service  of, 
160;    educated    in    England, 
318;  referred  to,  622 
Sewell's  Point,  ii,  18 
Sewell's  Point  Church,  i,  65,  100, 

149 
Seymour,  Lord,  i,  390 
Sharpless,  Edward,  ii,  392 
Shaw,  Thomas,  i,  422 
Shelley,   Captain,  ii,    209,    210, 

488 
Sheppard,  i:  Rev.  John,  70,  200; 

Richard,  23 
Sheriffs,  i,  serve  writs  at  church 
door,  31;  collect  church  dues, 
92,  93;  by  whom  appointed, 
597;  term  of,  599;  fees  of, 
600;  names  of,  601;  referred 
to,  633,  657;  ii,  custodians 
of  arms,  47;  appointed  by 
President  of  the  Council,  309; 
required  to  issue  writ  of  elec- 
tion, 408,  409;  return  name 
of  the  Burgess  elected,  420, 
421;  wording  of  their  return, 
421;  collected  taxes,  570-574; 
overawed  by  land-owners, 
577;  how  guided  in  collecting 
taxes,  578 
Sherman,  Michael,  i,  702 
Sherwood,  Grace,  i,  286,  287 
Sherwood,  William,  i,  draws  will 
of  Francis  Page,  566;  early 
history  of,  572;  his  reputa- 
tion in  Virginia,  572;  counsel 
in  Drummond  case,  573;  prac- 


Index 


687 


Sherwood,  William — Continued 
tises  in  General  Court,  574; 
in  other  courts,  575;„General 
Court  meets  in  his  residence, 
655;  Attorney-General,  688; 
ii,  Council  meets  at  home 
of,  389;  Assembly  committee 
meets  at  home  of,  479 

Shipp,  William,  i,  99,  524 

Shippey,  Thomas,  i,  419 

Shires,  i,  486,  ii,  18 

Shirley  Hundred,  see  West 
Shirley  Hundred 

Shirley  Hundred  Island,  ii, 
427 

Shirlock,  James,  ii,  174 

Shoreham,  ship,  ii,  188,  189,  219, 
221-223 

Shrewsbury,  Katharine,  i,  327 

Shropshire,  Rev.  St.  John,  i,  203 

Sibsey,  John,  i,  slandered,  51; 
obtains  mechanics,  99;  re- 
ferred to,  412, 622;  ii, custodian 
of  military  equipment,  80; 
member  of  Council  of  War, 
83;  becomes  a  member  of  the 
Governor's  Council,  370;  as- 
sessment for  benefit  of,  as 
Burgess  from  Lower  Norfolk 
county,  436;  collector  of 
taxes,  571 

Sidesman,  i,  93 

Simpson,  Thomas,  Ii,  225 

Simpson,  William,  i,  415 

Sittingbourne  Parish,  i,  re- 
ferred to,  59;  indicted  by 
Grand  Jury,  81;  granted  land 
for  a  church  site,  104;  its 
pulpit  occupied  by  Rev.  Mr. 
Doughty,    219 

Skipwith,  Sir  William,  i,  601 

Slander,  i,  50-52,  81,  630,  631 

Slaughter,  i,  Francis,  408;  Wil- 
liam, 581 

Slaves,   see   Negroes 

Smith, ii:  Abram,  56;  Joseph, 57; 
Nicholas,  180;  Roger,  33,  130 

Smith,  i,  Alexander,  36;  Bryan, 
618;  Henry,  428,  679;  John, 
382,  383,  429,;  Mary,  548; 
Richard,  75;  Robert,  575; 
Thomas,  36;  William,  548 

Smith,  Anthony,  i,  429;  ii,  56 

Smith,  Captain  John,  i,  religious 
feeling  of,  10;  restored  to  the 


Council,  195;  statement  of, 
as  to  the  Indian  College,  363; 
refers  to  the  erection  of 
monthly  courts,  485;  arrested 
on  shipboard,  648;  sues  Wing- 
field,  649;  criticises  Archer, 
650;  condemned  to  death,  651 ; 
ii,  refers  to  weapons  in  the 
Colony,  31 ;  encourages  mili- 
tary exercises,  64;  opinion 
of  Indian  courage  expressed 
by,  79;  changes  the  shape  of 
the  Jamestown  fort,  124; 
elected  Governor,  300;  mem- 
ber of  the  first  Council,  368 
Smith,    Lawrence,    i,    50,    382, 

483;  ii,  24,  104,  105,  108,  518 
Smith,  Major-General  Robert,  ii, 
9,  20,  51,  281,  504,  520,  530, 
532 
Smithe,  see  Smythe 
Smithfield,  ii,  64  , 

Smithfield  Church,  i,  106 
Smith's  Fort,  i,  372 
Smith's  Island,  ii,  215,  216 
Smythe,    Sir    Thomas,    ii,    242, 

253.  255,  290 
Smythe's  Hundred,  i,  97;  ii,  290, 

427 
Snead,  Hawkins,  1,  313 
Snignell,  Samuel,  i,  352 
Snowdall,  William,  i,  422 
Soane,  William,  i,  492,  528;  ii, 

118 
Solicitor-General,  i,  689 
Sorrell,  John,  i,  532 
Southampton  Fort,  ii,  127 
Southampton  Hundred,  i,  344- 

346;  ii,  290,  335,  336 
Southampton,  Lord,  ii,  245,  252 
Southampton  River,  ii,  16,  127 
South  Carolina,  ii,  208 
Southern,  Henry,  i,  41  - 
Southwark    Parish,    i,    83,  in; 

",  554 
Spaniards,  ii,  190,  191,  192,  193, 

239.  245 
Speaker,  The,  ii,  463,  464,  468- 

471 
Speke,  Thomas,  ii,  21 
Spellman,  Thomas,  i,  75 
Spencer,   i:    Alice,    52;    George, 

27,    in,    162;    Robert,    418; 

William,  522,   577 
Spencer,    Nicholas,    i,    contrib- 


688 


Index 


Spencer — Continued 

utes  to  the  salary  of  his 
clergyman,  153;  widow  of, 
marries,  211;  buys  law  books, 
557;  judge  in  Drummondcase, 
574;  reports  a  negro  plot,  672, 
673;  ii,  complains  of  indiffer- 
ence to  military  interests,  10; 
advises  about  the  Indians,  73; 
procures  medicines  for  Poto- 
mac garrison,  108;  opinion 
of  the  garrisons,  no;  depre- 
cates attack  by  guardship  on 
pirates,  205;  appointed  Sec- 
retary of  the  Colony,  394; 
sends  a  report  of  Acts  to 
England,  505;  named  as  a  re- 
viser of  the  Acts,  510;  de- 
scribes the  power  of  the 
Assembly  as  to  taxation,  527; 
high  position  of,  607 

Spencer,  Mrs.  Nicholas,  ii,  553 

Spencer,  William,  ii,  25 

Spicer,  Arthur,  i,  25,  426,  427, 

583-587 
Spotswood,  Alexander,  ii,  298 
Spratt,  Henry,  i,  326,  517 
Spring,  i:  Isabel,  234;    Robert, 

415,  437 
Stafford  county,  1,  124,  269,273, 
582,  601;   ii,   n,  22,  74,  102, 
115   et    seq.,     297,    299,   420, 

433,  579 
Stafford,  Hugh,  1,  372,  434 
Stairling,  Richard,  i,  415 
Stanley  Hundred,  ii,  290 
Stanwell,  Richard,  i,  405 
Staples,  Rev.  Robert,  i,  199 
Stapleton,  Thomas,  i,  580 
Star  Chamber,  i,  674 
State-House,  i,  fire  in,  in  1698, 
549,   615;  references  to,  654, 
655;     ii,    Governors    inaugu- 
rated in,     313,     314;      porch 
chamber  in,  used  by  Assembly 
clerk,    389;    Secretary    occu- 
pies a  room  in,  402;    history 
of,  451-460;  levy  for  repair- 
ing,     534;    duty    on    liquors 
for  building,  581,  582 
Stegge,  Thomas,  ii,  577,  598 
Stephens,  i:   Alice,   281;   Anne, 

629 
Stevens,  Philip,  i,  434 
St.  George's  Hundred,  ii,  290 


St.  John,  Lord,  ii,  32 

St.  Mary's,  i:  Church,  109;  Par- 
ish, 84 

St.  Mary's  Whitechapel,  i,  512 

St.  Peter's  Parish,  i,  57,  142 

Stirling,  William,  i,  620 

Stith,  John,  ii,  25 

Stock,  Richard,  i,  436 

Stockton,  Rev.  Jonas,  i,  8,  200 

Stone,  John,  ii,  24 

Stone,  William,  i,  594;  ii,  54 

Stop,  Ann,  i,  44 

Strachey,  William,  ii,  391 

Stratton,  Edward,  i,  43 

Stretcher,  ii,  21 

Stringer,  John,  i,  his  will,  19; 
warns  a  Quaker  missionary, 
226;  administers  oaths  of 
office  to  members  of  county 
court,  500;  sheriff  of  North- 
ampton county,  601 

Stroking  corpse,  i,  289 

Sturman,  Richard,  i,  318,   422 

Sudley,  Jane,  i,  83 

Suggett,  Sarah,  i,  408 

Summers,  Sir  George,   ii,  301 

Surry  county,  i,  citizens  of, 
indicted,  33;  stroking  a  corpse 
in,  ^  289;  testamentary  pro- 
vision for  education  of  chil- 
dren in,  301,  302;  court  pro- 
vision in,  for  education  of 
orphans  and  apprentices,  311; 
young  men  from,  educated 
in  England,  319;  College 
plantation  situated  in,  366, 
371,  372;  owners  of  books  in, 
418;  commission  of  justices 
of,  487;  its  bench  composed  of 
twelve  justices,  493,  494;  a 
lawyer's  license  in,  567;  Sher- 
wood a  resident  of,  573; 
clerkship  of,  589;  sheriffs  of, 
601;  justices  of,  indicted,  628; 
punishment  for  rebellion  in, 
632;  ii,  military  quota  re- 
quired of,  II;  Bridger  com- 
mands militia  in,  22;  militia 
officers  in,  23;  commanders 
in,  24;  part  of  a  military 
district,  93;  fort  to  be  built 
in,  103;  mechanics  impressed 
in,  to  build  fort,  145;  celebra- 
tion in,  279;  originally  a  part 
of    James    City  Corporation, 


Index 


689 


Surry  county — Continued 

291;  complains  of  heavy  as- 
sessments by  the  Assembly, 
440;  agitation  in,  544;  titha- 
bles  in,  554,  555;  complains 
of  the  levy,  560;  quit-rents 
of,  farmed  out,  577;  value  of 
quit-rents  in,  579 

Surveyor-Generalship,  i,  387;  ii, 

323 

Swaney,  Edmund,  i,  439 

Swann,  Alexander,  i,  68 

Swann,  Samuel,  ii,  25 

Swann,  Thomas,  i,  displaced 
from  quorum  of  Surry  county, 
487;  goes  on  the  circuit  as 
Councillor,  497,  499;  counsel 
in  Drummond  case,  573,  574; 
case  of,  before  the  General 
Assembly,  691;  ii,  officer  of 
militia,  24,  25;  number  of 
tithables   belonging    to,    554, 

o  *555  „• 

Sweet  Singers,  1,  274 

Swift,  The,  ship,  ii,  186 

Sydnor,  Fortunatus,  i,  114 

Sykes,  ii,  187 

Symmes,  Benjamin,  i,  resides 
at  Bass'  Choice,  350;  pro- 
vides by  will  for  erection  of 
free  school,  351;  Acts  of 
Assembly  to  enforce  the 
benefaction  of,  352;  extent 
of  tuition  in   free  school  of, 

355,  356 
Symonds,  Rev.  William,  i,  5 
Synock,  Robert,  ii,  108 

Taliaferro,  John,  i,  601,  602 

Tankard,  John,  i,  577-579,  608 

Tanner,  Edward.^  i,  340 

Tanner's  Creek,  i,  263 

Taverner,  Giles,  i,  299 

Taverner,  John,  i,  69,  408,  580; 
",25 

Taxation,  i,  of  skins  for  the 
support  of  the  College,  393; 
ii,  of  newcomers  at  Point 
Comfort,  140;  right  to  tax 
claimed  by  the  Governor  and 
Council,  375,  376;  Councillors 
relieved  of  taxes,  380;  history 
of,  in  time  of  Company,  522, 
523;  stipulation  about,  with 
Parliament     in      1651,     524; 


right  of  Governor  and  Coun- 
cil in  the  matter  of,  524-530; 
not  to  be  imposed  without 
consent  of  the  Assembly,  530- 
533;  parish  levy,  534;  public 
levy,  535;  county  levy,  535- 
539;  poll  tax,  540-547;  who 
constituted  tithables,  548- 
550;  assessment  for,  550-569; 
how  tithables  were  listed  for, 
55I_553;  number  of  titha- 
bles listed  for,  554,  555;  how 
taxes  collected,  570-574;  the 
quit-rent,  575,  et  seq.,  580;  duty 
on  liquors,  581,582;  on  slaves 
and  servants,  583;  export 
duty  on  tobacco,  584-588; 
sources  of  colonial  revenue, 
589;  collectors  and  naval 
officers,  590,  et  seq.;  general 
comment  on,  630-632 
Taylor,  ii,  464 

Taylor,  i:  Ebenezer,  354;  Nich- 
olas,  40;    Peter,    530;    Philip, 
408;    Richard,  424;    Thomas, 
162,  200;  William,  69 
Taylor,  George,  i,  642;  ii,  284 
Taylor,  John,  i,  75,  702;  ii,  513 
Teakle,  i:  Elizabeth,  182;  John, 
182;  Kate,  182;  Margaret,  182 
Teakle,  Rev.  Thomas,  i,  reim- 
bursed   for    improper    taxes, 
150;  salary  of,  154;    books  of, 
175,   176;  personal  estate  of, 
182;    serves  as  trustee,    184, 
referred      to,      200;      refutes 
charges  against  himself,  211; 
supervises    education    of   two 
boys,  304;  illiteracy  of  his  wife, 
456;  prosecutes  Mrs.  Parker, 

579 

Tenants,  i,  163;  ii,  290,  341, 
400 

Theriott,  i:  Domine,  532;  Wil- 
liam, 641,  642 

Thomas,  i:  Edward,  34,  244, 
245,  603;  James,  34;  John, 
434;  Mary,  227;  Simon,  104, 
105,   108 

Thomas,  R.  S.,  i,  106,  198 

Thompkins,  i:  Mary,  240;  Rich- 
ard,  327 

Thompson,  Samuel,  i,  34 

Thompson,  Rev.  William,  i, 
owns  land  in   New  England, 


690 


Index 


Thompson — Continued 

179;  controversy  with  Rev. 
Mr.  Parke,  190;  his  character, 
203;  a  Puritan  clergyman,  254; 
illiteracy  of  his  wife,  456;  ii, 
tithables  of,  555 

Thornbury,  William,  i,  37 

Thome,  Dorothy,  i,  311 

Thoroughgood,  Adam,  i,  slan- 
dered, 51,  622,  630;  becomes 
an  agricultural  servant  on 
his  arrival  in  Virginia,  426; 
buys  law  books,  557;  ii, 
influence  possessed  by,  610 

Thoroughgood,  John,  i,  455;  ii, 

25 

Thoroughgood,  Sarah,  i,  455 

Thorpe,   Colonel,   i,   103;  ii,  25 

Thorpe,  George,  i,  his  interest 
in  the  Indians,  5;  sent  to  Vir- 
ginia by  the  London  Com- 
pany, 367 

Thresh,  Alice,  i,  299 

Throgmorton,  Henry,  ii,  427 

Thruston,  i:  Christopher,  510; 
Malachi,  491 

Thurston,  i,  226 

Tilney,  John,  i,  404,  408;  ii,  502 

Tindall's  Point,  see  Tyndall's 
Point 

Tindall,  Robert,  ii,  124 

Tithables,  ii,  548-555 

Tobacco,  i,  634,  688;  ii,  18,  238, 
34i>  356,  561,  584-588,  612 

Todd,  John,  ii,  169,  171 

Todd,  Robert,  i,  62 

Toleration  Act,  i,  34,  215,  245, 
248,  249,  253,  259,  262,  263; 
ii,  8 

Tooker,  Edith,  i,  47 

Toop,  Nicholas,  i,  437 

Townsend,  Edward,  i,  385 

Townsend,  Richard,  i,  529;  ii, 
370 

Townsend  Plantation,  i,  392 

Travers,  i:  Elizabeth,  455;  Ed- 
ward, 107;  Raleigh,  455,  555 

Treason,   i,   674 

Treasurer,  ii,  259,  304,  393,  458, 
576,  602-604,  629 

Trope,  John,  ii,  90 

Trotter,  Richard,  i,  27 

Truit,  Henry,  i,  30 

Trussell,  John,  i,  616;  ii,  426 

Tucker,  Dorothy,  i,  310 


Tucker,  William,  ii,  16,  79,  191 
Tuke,  James,  i,  490 
Tunstall,  William,  i,  327 
Turberville,  John,  i,  601 
Turner,  i:  Henry,  36;    William, 

563 

Tutors,  i,  many  Virginians 
taught  by,  323;  some  of  them 
obtained  from  England,  324; 
instances  of,  324,  325,  327, 
329;  how  remunerated,  326, 
327;  sometimes  Huguenots 
327;  sometimes  servants,  328; 
school-rooms  of,  occasionally 
attached  to  planters'  resid- 
ences, 329 

Twyford,  John,  i,  418 

Tyler,  i:  John,  401;  Robert,  512 

Tyler,  Lyon  G.,  i,202,  384,  401; 

",  451 
Tylman,  Edward,  ii,  444 
Tyndall's   Point,    ii,    150,    163, 
166,   167,    169,   170-174,   183 
et  seq.,  194,  202,  203,  389,  455 

Underhill,  John,  i,  437 
Uniformity,  Act  of,  i,  252,  259 
Upper    Norfolk   county,    i,    57, 

520,  570;  ii,  83,  428 
Upton,  John,  i,  455;  ii,  19,  139 
Urbanna,  i,  533 
Utie,  John,  i,  455,  529;  ii,  5,  137, 

356 
Utie,  Mary,  i,  455 
Utimaria,  i,  529 

Vanner,  James,  ii,  225 

Varina,  i,  528 

Varina  Parish,  i,  180 

Vaughan,  i:  John,  39;  Samuel, 
422;  Richard,  298 

Vaulx,  James,  i,  437,  481 

Vestry,  i,  of  whom  composed, 
62;  its  patriotism,  63;  its 
social  influence,  63,  64;  juris- 
diction of,  64;  earliest  refer- 
ence to,  64;  who  appointed, 
65;  how  often  chosen,  66-68; 
who  chose,  70;  meetings  of, 
70,  71;  duties  of,  73,  74; 
parish  levy  by,  74,  75;  as- 
sistants to,  appointed,  76; 
amount  of  parish  tax,  tj\ 
exempted  paupers  from  levy, 
77;  disputes  as  to  local  juris- 


Index 


691 


Vestry — Continued 

diction  of,  78;  acted  through 
the  churchwardens,  79  et  seq.; 
oppressive  measures  by,  102; 
possessed  the  right  to  choose 
minister  of  the  parish,  131, 
132;  described  as  a  plebeian 
junta  135;  charged  with  cur- 
tailing rights  of  clergy,  136, 
137;  why  a  probational  tenure 
was  approved  by,  139-141; 
could  increase  tax  for  minis- 
ters' support,  149,  150;  called 
upon  to  subscribe  to  clergy- 
men's salaries,  i52;impowered 
to  sell  glebes,  164,  165;  re- 
quired to  keep  registry  book, 
186;  ordered  to  retain  those 
ministers  who  conformed,  2 18, 
219;    ii,  general  duties  of,  619 

Vicars,  Rev.  Thomas,  i,  200 

Vincent,  William,  i,  563 

Virginia,  i,  moral  character  of 
its  population,  53,  54;  num- 
ber of  parishes  in,  60;  vestry's 
influence  in,  63;  election  of 
churchwardens  in,  80;  pro- 
vision for  poor  in,  88,  89; 
first  religious  services  in,  94; 
instructions  to  clergymen  in, 
in  the  Company's  time,  97; 
material  of  churches  in,  105, 
106;  influences  promoting 
emigration  of  English  clergy- 
men to,  116;  toleration  in, 
for  religious  refugees,  120; 
College  projected  in,  in  1660- 
1661,  122;  Bishop  of,  123; 
room  for  more  clergymen  in, 
in  1700,  125;  church  in,  con- 
demned by  Rev.  Mr.  God- 
wyn,  127,  136;  no  patrons  of 
livings  in,  134;  drawbacks  to 
clergyman's  tenure  in,  136, 
J37»  l43>  condition  of  clergy 
in,  143;  privileges  enjoyed  by 
certain  citizens  in,  146;  cler- 
gymen's salaries  about  1690, 
159;  tenants  sent  to,  to  work 
the  glebes,  163;  condition  of 
glebes  in,  in  1695,  168,  169; 
libraries  belonging  to  the 
clergy  in,  173-176;  advan- 
tages offered  to  clergymen 
in,    183;    the  wealthiest  cler- 


gyman in,  184;  Rev.  Mr. 
Hunt's  pastorate  in,  195; 
clergymen  in,  198,  199,  200; 
influences  to  promote  good 
character  among  clergy  of, 
203-207;  Rev.  Mr.  Panton 
banished  from,  208 ;  individual 
clergymen  in,  charged  with 
wrongdoing,  208-214;  people 
of,  faithful  to  the  Anglican 
Church,  218;  need  of  military 
precautions  in,  223;  impor- 
tation of  Quakers  into,  pro- 
hibited, 228;  liberty  of  con- 
science proclaimed  in,  244; 
invasion  of,  in  1691,  threat- 
ened from  the  North,  248; 
first  Puritans  to  arrive  in, 
253;  Puritan  clergymen  from 
New  England  arrive  in,  254, 
255;  condition  of  church  in, 
during  Puritan  supremacy, 
258;  general  condition  of 
Puritans  in,  260;  Presby- 
terian church  in,  262,  263; 
popular  attitude  in,  towards 
the  Papists,  264-266;  supposed 
Papist  plots  in,  269-271; 
causes  of  feeling  against  Pa- 
pists in,  274,  275;  attitude 
towards  witchcraft  in,  278, 
281,  288;  conditions  in,  dis- 
couraging to  popular  educa- 
tion, 293,  294;  testamentary 
provision  in,  for  education  of 
children,  295-307;  courts  in, 
require  education  of  orphans 
and  apprentices,  308-315; 
young  men  from,  educated 
in  England,  318-322;  school- 
masters in,  required  to  be 
licensed,  334;  Indian  school 
in,  344-346;  free  schools  in, 
350-356;  Berkeley's  reference 
to  free  schools  in,  360;  as- 
signment of  land  in,  to  pro- 
jected Indian  College,  362; 
estimated  value  of  quit-rents 
in,  388;  no  printing  press  in, 
previous  to  1680,  402,  403; 
books  written  in,  445, 446;  de- 
gree of  illiteracy  in,  450-459; 
enforcement  of  English  law  in, 
464-469;  Habeas  Corpus  in, 
467 ;  codification  of  laws  of,  in 


692 


Index 


Virginia — Continued 

1660,  467;  laws  prevailing  in, 
472,476-477;  the  courts  oper- 
ating in,  478;  speedy  justice 
in,  478, 479;  monthly  court  set 
up  in,  484;  brick-making  in, 
537>  538,  legal  procedure  in, 
555.  556,  663,  664;  profession 
of  law  in,  568;  leading  attor- 
neys of,  570-587;  proposal 
to  send  English  lawyers  to, 
571;  eagerness  for  office  in, 
603 ;  law-abiding  character 
of  the  people  of,  610;  the 
criminal  code  of,  611-616; 
prisons  in,  633-646;  adminis- 
tration of  law  in,  no  check  on 
the  political  administration, 
661;  jurors  in,  666;  piracy 
in,  676-678 ;  Admiralty  Court 
erected  in,  702;  ii,  legal  age 
for  military  service  in,  7; 
number  of  fighting  men  in, 
10;  wages  of  soldiers  in,  14; 
militia  officers  in,  23-25; 
arms  and  ammunition  in,  in 
1625,  33;  imports  military 
articles  from  England,  44,  46; 
arms  in  hands  of  private 
citizens  of,  52;  smiths  in,  57- 
60;  life  of  a  youth  in,  61-63; 
drill-masters  in,  67;  distrust 
of  Indians  in,  72-77;  marches 
against  Indians  in,  78  et  seq.; 
forts  erected  in,  as  early  as 
1 646  as  barrier  against  Indians, 
99;  scheme  for  forts  in,  in  1676, 
102  et  seq.;  cost  of  supporting 
the  Indian  garrisons  in,  11 1; 
services  of  the  Rangers  in,  115 
et  seq.;  life  of  the  Rangers 
in,  121,  122;  first  forts  erected 
in,  123-134;  ordnance  in,  in 
1629,  135;  erection  of  five 
forts  in,  in  1667,  153-156; 
uselessness  of  fortifications 
in,  in  1690,  174-177;  seamen 
impressed  in,  187;  guardship 
Shoreham  sent  to,  188;  Span- 
ish attack  expected  in,  191; 
Dutch  naval  operations  in, 
193  et  seq.;  piracy  in,  203-226; 
periods  in  history  of,  229,  230; 
income  expected  from  by  the 
King,    234;    influence    of,    on 


English  contemporary  poli- 
tics, 243,  244;  first  Assembly 
called  in,  246;  the  Colony 
reverts  to  the  crown,  252; 
confirmation  of  the  right  to 
hold  Assembly  proclaimed  in, 
256»  257J  no  need  of  a  com- 
pany to  govern,  260;  reaction 
in,  after  1660,  263,  264;  ap- 
points a  commissioner  in 
London,  266;  English  boards 
that  controlled  affairs  in, 
267-273;  loyalty  to  English 
throne,  274-286;  territorial 
divisions  in,  287-299;  Cul- 
peper  ordered  to  go  back 
to,  304;  how  Governor  was 
appointed  in,  300-309;  how 
Governor  was  inaugurated 
in,  312-314;  powers  of  Gov- 
ernor of,  320  et  seq.;  Governor 
required  to  reside  in,  333, 
334;  a  Governor's  mansion 
in,  projected,  337-339;  tenants 
sent  to,  341;  Harvey  sets  out 
for,  in  1635-6,  343;  Byrd 
arrives  in,  364;  governed 
by  the  popular  voice  in  the 
time  of  the  Protectorate, 
381;  Secretaries  of,  391-395; 
letters  of  attorney  sent  to, 
398;  first  legislative  body  to 
assemble  in,  403;  who  were 
entitled  to  vote  in,  409-416; 
English  rule  as  to  residence 
of  Burgess  followed  in,  421; 
every  prominent  family  in, 
represented  in  House  of  Bur- 
gesses, 423,  435;  definite  sal- 
ary allowed  to  Burgess  in, 
435»  4395  principal  church  in, 
in  1 61 9,  450;  State-House  in, 
450-461;  Saturday  a  half- 
holiday  in,  465;  epidemics 
in,  '487,  488;  political  con- 
dition of,  in  Cromwell's  time, 
491;  agents  for,  appointed  in 
England,  519-521;  grant  of, 
to  Arlington  and  Culpeper 
520;  no  complaint  of  poll  tax 
in,  546;  servants  imported 
into,  550;  how  estates  were 
held  in,  575;  quit-rents  of 
granted  to  Arlington  and 
Culpeper,    576;     value     of 


Index 


693 


Virginia — Continued 

quit-rents  in,  579;  privileges 
allowed  ships  built  in,  583; 
income  of  government  of, 
589;  fees  for  ships  built  in, 
596;  resembled  England,  605 
et  seq. 

Visitation,  i,  91 

Wade,  Daniel,  ii,  57 

Wade,  Edward,  i,  511 

Waldron,  Henry,  i,  405 

Walker,  ii,  370 

Walker,  Nathaniel,  i,  406 

Walker,  Peter,  ii,  54 

Wall,  Isaac,  i,  114 

Wallace,  i:  Rev.  James,  162, 
184;  Rev.  John,  200 

Wallis,  Samuel,  i,  555 

Walloons,  i,  217 

Wallop,  John,  i,  407,  408,  480 

Waltham,  John,  i,  296,  630 

Walton,  John,  i,  342 

Ward,  Thomas,  ii,  83 

Wardly,  Thomas,  i,  631 

Ware  Creek,  i,  536 

Ware,  Jacob,  i,  142 

Wareneck,  i,  83 

Ware  Parish,  i,  167,  358 

Warner,  Augustine,  i,  233,  234, 
318;  ii,  24 

Warriner,  John,  i,  530 

Warrosquoick,  i,  485;  ii,  33, 
160 

Warrosquoick  county,  ii,  294 

Warrosquoick  Indians,  ii,  79 

Warwick  county,  i,  vacant 
pulpits  in,  in  1680,  124; 
records  of,  440;  terms  of 
its  court,  521;  citizens  of, 
prosecuted,  570;  ii,  military 
quota  required  of,  11;  militia 
of,  reviewed  by  Nicholson,  29; 
provision  by,  for  Indian 
march,  82;  mechanics  im- 
pressed in,  147;  originally  a 
part  of  James  City  Corpo- 
ration, 291 ;  date  of  formation, 
294;  number  of  Burgesses 
from,  428;  quit -rents  of, 
farmed  out,  577 ;  value  of  quit- 
rents  in,  579 

Warwick,  Lord,  ii,  253 

Warwick  River,  i,  485 

Washington,  i;  Anne,  301;  John, 


4°5»  455;  Laurence,  405,  601 , 

630;  Mary,  455 
Washington,  George,  ii,  63 
Washington  Parish,  i,  173 
Waters,  John,  i,  327,  581 
Waters,  Lieutenant,  ii,  127 
Waters,  William,  i,  537;  ii,  24, 

25 

Waterson,  John,  i,  302 

Watkins,  i,  George,  in,  418, 
579;  Richard,  25 

Watson,  i:  John,  417;  Henry, 
415;  Rev.  Ralph,  173;  Rich- 
ard, 433;  William,  505 

Watts,  James,  i,  579 

Watts,  John,  ii,  354 

Waugh,  Rev.  John,  i,  sells 
land,  180;  referred  to,  200; 
heretical  opinions  of,  touching 
marriage  license  and  banns, 
219;  encourages  panic  about 
Papists,  269 

Webb,  Giles,  i,  492;  ii,  119 

Webb,  i:  William,  341;  William 
Jr.,  342 

Webster,  Alexander,  i,  583 

Weekes,  Abraham,  ii,  465 

Wellburn,  Thomas,  ii,  210 

Wells,  Thomas,  i,  43 

West,  Francis,  ii,  288,  305 

West,  John,  i,  269,  601,  644, 
674;  ii,  24,  39,  64,  65,  305, 
356,  562 

West,  William,  1,  415 

Westmoreland  county,  i,  pro- 
fanity in,  43;  salaries  of 
clergymen  in,  153;  case  of 
reported  witchcraft  in,  284, 
285;  provision  by  will  in,  for 
education  of  children,  301, 
307;  young  men  from,  edu- 
cated in  England,  318;  pri- 
vate tutor,  in,  329;  owners  of 
books  in,  407,  422;  judges 
appointed  in,  491;  dispute 
in,  about  charter  party,  518; 
justices  of,  absent  from  court, 
523;  court-house  in,  534; 
action  of  judges  of,  towards 
the  poor,  545;  rule  as  to  tes- 
timony in  court  of,  556;  books 
for  county  court  of,  bought, 
557;  bar  of,  583;  sheriffs  of, 
601;  indictment  in,  609;  use 
of  the  lash  in,  625;  the  stocks 


694 


Index 


Westmoreland  county — Cont'd 
in,  628;  ducking  stool  in,  630; 
jail  in,  643;  negro  plot  in, 
672;  rape  by  negro  in,  679; 
ii,  military  quota  required 
of,  in  1686,  11  j  Richard  Lee 
commands  militia  in,  22; 
militia  officers  in,  23;  imports 
military  articles  from  Eng- 
land, 44;  provision  in  for 
Indian  march,  85,  93;  warned 
of  pirates'  presence,  218; 
attachment  against  negroes 
in,  447;  levy  in,  538;  value 
of  quit-rents  in,  579 
Westover  Parish,  i,  329 
West-Shirley   Hundred,    ii,    33, 

288,  289 
Wetherby,  Lee,  ii,  225 
Whaley,  James,  i,  438 
Wheatley,  David,  i,  39 
Whetson,  Aaron,  i,  704 
Whewell,  Andrew,  i,  547 
Whipping  post,  i,  625-626 
Whitaker,    Rev.    Alexander,    i, 
eulogizes  Dale,  1 1 ;  writes  for 
clergymen,  118;  his  parsonage, 
170;  removes  to  Virginia,  196, 
197;  resides  at  Bermuda  Hun- 
dreds,   198;    belonged  to   the 
Puritan  section  of  the  Angli- 
can church,  252 ;  suspects  the 
Indians  of  witchcraft,    278 
Whitaker, ii:  Captain,  573;  Wal- 
ter, 40 
Whitby,  Joseph,  i,  220 
Whitby,  Richard,  ii,  536 
White,   i:   Ambrose,   579;    Rev. 
George,  177;  Henry,  231;  Rev. 
Thomas,   199;  Rev.   William, 
175.  185 
Whitechapel  Parish,  1,  27,  11 1 
Whitehead,  William,  i,  348 
Whiting,  Henry,  ii,  465 
Whiting,  James,  i,  88 
Whitlock,  Thomas,  i,  299 
Whitney,  William,  i,  676 
Wickham,  Rev.  William,  i,  198, 

199 
Wickliff,  Henry,  i,  301 
Wicocomico,  ii,  182 
Wilder,  Walter,  i,  36 
Wilkes,  Thomas,  i,  415,  424 
Wilkins,  i:  John,  75;  Peter,  431 
Wilkinson,  Mary,  i,  313 


Willett,  Martha,  i,  326 

William  and  Mary  College,  i, 
Boyle  endowment  of,  9;  rea- 
sons for  founding,  125,  380; 
referred  to,  213,  214,  356; 
Nicholson's  interest  in  erec- 
tion of,  381;  trustees  of, 
chosen,  382,  383;  name  of, 
selected,  384;  Blair  appointed 
agent  of,  to  visit  England, 
384;  instructions  to  Blair  as 
agent  of,  385,  386;  memorial 
of  Assembly  about,  387;  reply 
of  English  Government,  388; 
charter  for,  obtained,  39O; 
charter  of,  presented  to  the 
Governor  and  Council,  391; 
site  for,  at  Middle  Planta- 
tion adopted,  392,  foundation 
stone  of,  laid,  393 ;  expenditure 
for  buildings  of,  394-396; 
bequests  to,  396;  course  of 
instruction  in,  397;  teachers 
attached  to,  398 ;  exercises  at, 
399,400;  distinguished  alumni 
of,  401;  General  Court  sits  at, 

655 

William  the  Third,  i,  155,  156, 
391,  394;  ii,  285,  286 

Williams,  i:  David,  303;  Evan, 
415;  Hugh,  319;  Mrs. 'John, 
631;  Rev.  Paul,  200;  Thomas, 
30;  Walter,  536;  Rev.  Wil- 
liam, 200;  William,  355 

Williams,  John,  ii,  204 

Williamsburg,  i,  assumes  the 
aspect  of  a  small  capital,  400; 
ii,  capitol  removed  to,  461 

Williamson,  i:  Henry,  328; 
James,  427;  Martha,  416, 
Matthew,  84;  Roger,  80 

Williamson,  Secretary,  i,  572 

Willis,  Francis,  i,  576;  ii,  502 

Willocks,  George,  i,  184 

Willoughby,  i;  Henry,  427; 
Sarah,  413 

Willoughby,  Thomas,  i,  slan- 
dered, 52;  referred  to,  100, 
148,  622;  impowered  to  en- 
gage a  minister,  121,  154;  his 
death  mentioned,  491  ;ii,  mem- 
ber of  Council  of  War,  83; 
views  the  site  for  new  fort  at 
Point  Comfort,  137;  loans 
powder  to  fort  at  Point  Com- 


Index 


695 


Willoughby,  Thomas — Cont'd 
fort,  139;  relieved  of  taxation 
as  a  Councillor,  380 
Wills,  i,  18-20,  566 
Willson,  Rev.  Mr.  i,  333 
Wilmington  Parish,  i,  214 
Wilson,  i:  George,  636;  James, 

263;  Richard,  40 
Wilson,  Robert,  i,  297;  ii,  462 
Winbrow,  Barbara,  i,  280 
Windebanke,  Sir  Francis,  ii,  269, 

318,  393 

Wingate,  Roger,  ii,  603 

Wingfield,  Governor,  i,  com- 
mends Rev.  Mr.  Hunt,  194; 
takes  notes  of  Hunt's  ser- 
mons, 196;  defends  himself 
from  charge  of  atheism,  276; 
his  trial,  648-650;  ii,  associa- 
tion with  the  Governorship, 
300;  deposed,  303;  follows 
Ratcliffe  in  the  Presidency, 
335;  member  of  the  first 
council,  368 

Winley,  David,  i,  99 

Winne,  Richard,  i,  433 

Winsor,  Anne,  i,  629 

Winthrop,  Governor,  i,  254 

Wise,  John,  i,  538,  671 

Wishert,  James,  i,  415 

Witchcraft,  i,  belief  in,  in  Vir- 
ginia, 278;  early  instances 
of,  279;  later  instances  of, 
280;  punished  with  death 
on  high  seas  in  one  instance, 
280;  charges  of,  discouraged 
by  the  courts,  in  Virginia,  281, 
288;  supposed  effect  of  bap- 
tism on  witches,  283;  Grand 
Jury  inquires  as  to,  283; 
suits  caused  by  charges  of, 
284-287 

Wolf,  ship,  ii,  183,  184 

Wolstonholme,  Sir  John,  i,  97 

Womack,  Abram,  i,  42 

Wood,  Abraham,  ii,  91,  101,  426 

Wood,  i:  Edward,  312;  Sir 
Edward,  213;  Rev.  John,  200 

Woodhouse,  Henry,  i,  24;  ii, 
301 

Woodhouse,  Thomas,  i,  654 

Wooding,  James,  i,  439 

World's  End,  ii,  298 

Worlick,  William,  ii,  426 

Wormeley,    Christopher,    i,  ar- 


rests agitators  in  1688,  270; 
York  Court  meets  at  house 
of,  529;  ii,  officer  of  militia, 
24;  commands  the  fort  at 
Point  Comfort,  139;  serves 
in  the  Council,  365,  370; 
receives  the  Assembly's  rec- 
ords from  Beverley's  executor, 
474;  his  commission  as  col- 
lector of  customs,  593;  names 
a  deputy,  593,  594 

Wormeley,  John,  i,  318 

Wormeley  Plantation,  ii,  165, 
167,  173 

Wormeley,  Ralph  Jr.,  i,  his 
religious  books,  25;  arrests 
agitators  in  1688,  270;  edu- 
cated in  England,  318;  sug- 
gested as  trustee  for  the 
College,  382;  character  of 
his  library,  425,  426;  letter 
of,  to  William  Fitzhugh,  469; 
appointed  to  supervise  build- 
ing of  the  court-house  in 
Middlesex,  533.;  his  law  books, 
560;  Fitzhugh  writes  to,  580; 
ducking  stool  placed  at  land- 
ing of,  630;  ii,  officer  of 
militia,  25;  custodian  of  pow- 
der, 47;  inspects  Rappahan- 
nock Fort,  167;  receives  pay- 
ment for  military  supplies, 
1 72 ;  asked  to  use  the  quit-rent 
for  manning  guardsloop,  186; 
becomes  President  of  the 
Council,  309;  entertains 
Howard  at  Rosegill,  337; 
serves  in  the  Council,  365; 
Secretary  of  the  Colony,  395; 
receives  the  records  from 
Beverley's  executor,  474 

Wormeley,  Ralph,  Sr.,  i,  318 

Worsham,  George,  ii,  483 

Worsham,  John,  i,  22 

Wren,  Nicholas,  i,  114 

Wright,  i:  John,  36;  Rev.  John, 
127,  184;  Thomas,  31,  298; 
Richard,  415 

Wyanoke  Indians,  ii,  79 

Wyard,  Robert,  i,  178 

Wyatt,  Governor,  i,  instructed 
to  inquire  into  charges  against 
Rev.  Mr.  Panton,209;  ordered 
to  maintain  Anglican  canons, 
216;  instructions  of,  in  1621 


6q6 


Index 


Wyatt,  Governor — Continued 
464;  enjoined  to  enforce  Eng- 
lish law  in  Virginia,  466; 
charter  brought  over  by,  550, 
593;  ii,  aids  John  W"est>  65J 
his  view  of  the  Indians^  79; 
urges  need  of  forts  in  Virginia, 
132;  brings  a  constitution  to 
Virginia,  249;  writes  to  the 
King  in  1624,  253;  performs 
the  duties  of  the  Governorship 
after  charter  was  recalled,  257, 
258;  his  Council  authorized 
to  choose  his  successor,  304; 
trades  with  the  Indians,  308; 
instructions  to,  in  1621,  316; 
required  to  report  on  the 
condition  of  the  Colony,  329; 
displaced  by  Yeardley,  341; 
his  body-guard,  350;  in- 
structed to  relieve  the  Coun- 
cillors of  taxation,  380;  im- 
powered  to  summon  the  As- 
sembly annually,  431 ;  instruc- 
tions of,  define  the  character 
of  the  General  Assembly,  500 

Wyatt,  Rev.  Hawte,  i,  serves  in 
the    pulpit     at      Jamestown, 

1     199,  202 

Wyld,  Daniel,  i,  312 

Wyndham,  Edward,  ii,  83,  85 

Wyre,  John,  i,  604 

Yalden,  Edward,  i,  417 

Yates,    i,    Rev.     Bartholomew, 

203;  John,  411;  Richard,  238 
Yeardley,  Argoll,  ii,  54,  65,  386 
Yeardley,     Francis,     i,     church 
built  on  land  of,  99;   invent- 
ory of    books    belonging    to, 
412;  a  letter  to,  444;  illiteracy 
of  wife  of,  455;  ii,  impowered 
to  appoint  officers  in  Lower 
Norfolk  county,  20;  exercises 
his  troops,  65 
Yeardley,  Mrs.  Frances,  i,  52 
Yeardley,  Governor,  i,   instruc- 
tions of,  in  1626,  14;  arrives 
at  Jamestown,  97;  custodian 
of  church  plate,  109;  ordered 
to    see    that    the    ministers' 
salaries   were   paid,    145;    re- 
ports   number    of    clergymen 
in  Virginia  in  1619,  198;  cap- 
tain   of    Southampton    Hun- 


dred, 346;  widow  of,  delivers 
to  the  General  Court  the 
property  of  the  Indian  Col- 
lege, 370;  puts  ordinance  of 
1 61 8  in  operation,  484;  orders 
given  to,  593;  ii,  instructions, 
1626,  4;  nominates  a  lieu- 
tenant-commander, 16;  dis- 
courages hospitality  to  In- 
dians, 72;  finds  no  forts  in 
Virginia,  on  his  arrival,  ca- 
pable of  repelling  attack, 
128;  provides  against  a  Span- 
ish invasion,  191;  authorized 
to  call  the  first  General  As- 
sembly, 246;  sets  out  for 
Virginia,  247;  proclaims  the 
confirmation  by  Charles  the 
First  of  the  right  to  hold  an 
Assembly,  256;  recognizes 
the  necessity  of  an  Assembly, 
257>  258;  his  instructions 
signed  by  Privy  Council,  267; 
instructed  to  enforce  all  the 
regulations  throughout  the 
Colony,  293;  his  successor 
designated,  305;  succeeds 
Dale,  307 ;  proclaims  his  in- 
structions in  1 619,  312;  erects 
a  house  for  the  Governors  on 
the  public  land,  335;  imports 
tenants,  341 
Yeardley,  Lady,  ii,  341 
Yeardley,  Sarah,  i,  455 
Yeo,  Colonel,  ii,  195 
Yeo,  Hugh,  i,  330,  444;  ii,  448 
Yeo,  William,  i,  330;  ii,  147 
Yeocomico  Fort,  ii,  150,  153,  167 
Yewell,  Thomas,  ii,  25 
Yonge,  S.  H.,  ii,  124,  452 
York  county,  i,  Quakers  in- 
dicted in,  34;  vacant  pulpits 
in,  in  1680,  124;  Quakers' 
propaganda  in,  in  1659,  228, 
229;  Quakers  hold  secret 
meetings  in,  236;  testamen- 
tary provision  in,  for  educa- 
tion of  children,  297,  299,  302, 
304;  provision  in,  for  educa- 
tion of  orphans  and  appren- 
tices, 309,  311-314;  tutors  in, 
325;  lot  for  schoolhouse  at 
Yorktown  accepted  by  jus- 
tices of,  337;  owners  of 
books  in,  405,  407,  433~439; 


Index 


697 


York  county — Continued 

Councillors  sit  in  court  of, 
497;  justices  of,  aspersed, 
511;  terms  of  its  court,  519- 
521;  court-houses  in,  529;  law 
books  bought  for  court  of, 
557;  seeks  to  limit  fees  of 
attorneys,  566;  bar  of,  575; 
sheriff  for,  appointed  in  1665, 
596;  sheriffs  of,  601 ;  a  hanging 
in,  616;  a  ducking  stool  in, 
630;  punishment  in,  for  slan- 
der, 63 1 ;  prisons  in,  638 ;  prison 
charges  in,  646;  admiralty 
cases  in,  698,  699;  ii,  military 
quota  required  of,  in  1686, 
II;  militia  officers  _  in,  24; 
militia  of,  deficient  in  arms, 
38;  powder  in,  49;  allowance 
to  citizens  of,  for  arms,  50; 
pays  v  smiths,  58;  order  of 
justices  of,  about  Indians, 
74;  provision  by,  for  expense 
of  Indian  marches,  82,  84; 
levy  in,  for  rangers,  121 : 
military  commissioners  for, 
appointed  in  1667,  150;  taxes 
collected   in,   for   support   of 


Governor,  347;  petitions  the 
Assembly  to  build  State- 
House  at  Middle  Plantation, 
455;  general  assessments  in, 
536»  537;  justices  of ,  required 
to  meet  in  December,  560; 
levies  in,  567,  568;  quit-rents 
of,  farmed  out,  578 

York  Fort,  i,  383,  385;  ii,  47,  49 

York  Old  Fields,  i,  392 

York  Parish,,  i,  85,  no,  in, 
208 

York  River,  i,  383,  385,  497;  ii, 
76,  98,  132,  150,  163,  164  et 
seq.,  183,  184,  196,  197,  202, 
203,  218 

Yorktown,  i,  projected  church 
at,  104;  a  tutor  obtained 
from,  324;  schoolhouse  at, 
332;  Nicholson  conveys  his 
lot  in,  for  a  schoolhouse,  337; 
debated  as  site  for  the  Col- 
lege, 392;  port  to  be  estab- 
lished at,  529;  court-house 
erected  at,  529;  ii,  Berkeley 
arrives  at,  197 

Youell,  Francis,  i,  87 

Young,  Winifred,  i,  311 


M  work  indispensable  to  students  of  American  History." 
The  Journal  of  the 

Debates  in  the  Convention 

Which  Framed 

The  Constitution  of  the 
United  States 

May-September,  1787 
As  Recorded  by  JAMES  MADISON 

Edited  with  Introduction  and  Notes  by 
GAILLARD  HUNT 

2  Volumes,     8vo.     $4.50  net  per  set.     Uniform  with  Lodge's 
Edition  of  "  The  Federalist" 

These  two  volumes  comprise  Madison's  complete  record  of  the  proceed- 
ings of  the  Constitutional  Convention  and  give  in  the  notes  comparative 
comments  based  upon  that  journal  and  the  less  complete  chronicles  of  the 
convention  made  by  Yates,  King,  and  Pierce. 

James  Madison's  contemporaries  generally  conceded  that  he  was  the 
leading  statesman  in  the  convention  which  framed  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States ;  but  in  addition  to  this  he  kept  a  record  of  the  proceedings 
of  the  convention  which  outranks  in  importance  all  the  other  writings  of 
the  founders  of  the  American  Republic.  He  is  thus  identified,  as  no  other 
man  is,  with  the  making  of  the  Constitution  and  the  correct  interpretation 
of  the  intentions  of  the  makers.  His  is  the  only  continuous  record  of  the 
proceedings  of  the  convention.  He  took  a  seat  immediately  in  front  of  the 
presiding  officer,  facing  the  members,  and  took  down  every  speech  or  motion 
as  it  was  made,  using  abbreviations  of  his  own  and  immediately  afterwards 
transcribing  his  notes  when  he  returned  to  his  lodgings.  A  few  motions 
only  escaped  him,  and  of  important  speeches  he  omitted  none.  The  pro- 
ceedings were  ordered  to  be  kept  secret,  but  his  self-imposed  task  of  reporter 
had  the  official  sanction  of  the  convention. 

Q.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS 
New  York  London 


"  The  best  summary  at  present  available  ot  the 
political  history  of  the  United  States." 

Frank  H.  Hodder,  Professor  of  American  History  in  the 
University  of  Kansas. 


American  Political  History 

1763=1876 

By  Alexander  Johnston 

Edited  and  Supplemented  by 

James  Albert  Woodburn 

Professor  of   History  and   Political  Science,   Indiana    Uni- 
versity; Author  of  '•'  The  American  Republic," 
*'  Political  Parties  and  Party  Problems 
in  the  United  States,"  etc. 

In  two  parts \  each  complete  in  itself  and  indexed,  Ocatvo. 
Each,  net  $2.00 

x.    The  Revolution,  the  Constitution,  and  the  Growth 
of  Nationality.    1 763-1 832. 

2.    The  Slavery  Controversy,  Secession,  Civil  War, 
and  Reconstruction.     1 820-1 876. 

These  volumes  present  the  principal  features  in  the  political  history 
of  the  United  States  from  the  opening  of  the  American  Revolution  to 
the  close  of  the  era  of  the  Reconstruction.  They  give  in  more  con- 
venient form  the  series  of  articles  on  "American  Political  History  "  con- 
tributed to  Lalor's  "Cyclopedia  of  Political  Science,  Political  Economy, 
and  Political  History,"  by  the  late  Professor  Alexander  Johnston. 

"  These  essays,  covering  the  whole  field  of  the  political  history  of  the 
United  States,  have  a  continuity  and  unity  of  purpose;  introduced, 
urranged  and  supplemented  as  they  have  been  by  Professor  Woodburn 
(who  contributes  a  very  necessary  chapter  on  the  Monroe  Doctrine)  they 
present  a  complete  and  well-balanced  history  of  the  politics  of  the  United 
States."— Hartford  Courant. 


G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS 
New  York  London 


The  Federal  Series 

Comprising  certain  works  illustrative  of  the  organization  and 
the  history  of  the  American  Republic. 

I.— THE  FEDERALIST.  By  Alex.  Hamilton,  John  Jay,  and  James 
Madison.  A  Commentary  on  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States. 
Edited  with  introduction  and  notes  by  Henry  Cabot  Lodge.  Octavo, 
$1.50. 

a.— AMERICAN  POLITICAL  HISTORY— 1763-1876.  By  Alex- 
ander  Johnston,  Professor  of  American  History,  Princeton  University. 
Edited  and  supplemented  by  James  A.  Woodburn,  Professor  of  History 
in  Indiana  University.  2  vols.,  octavo  (each  complete  in  itself  and 
separately  indexed),  each,  net,  $2.00. 

L — The  Revolution,  the  Constitution,  and  the  Growth 

of  Nationality.     1763-1832. 
II. — The  Slavery  Controversy,  Secession,  Civil  War,  and 

Reconstruction.     i8ao-i876. 

3.— THE  JOURNAL  OP  THE  CONSTITUTIONAL  CONVEN- 
TION OP  1787.  Compiled  by  James  Madison.  Edited  with  introduc- 
tion and  notes  by  Gaillard  Hunt.     2  vols.,  octavo,  net,  $4.50. 

4.— THE  AMERICAN  REPUBLIC  AND    ITS    GOVERNMENT. 

An  Analysis  of  the  Government  of  the  United  States,  with  a  considera- 
tion of  its  Fundamental  Principles  and  of  its  Relations  to  the  States  and 
Territories.  By  James  A.  Woodburn,  Professor  of  American  History 
and  Politics  in  the  University  of  Indiana.     Octavo,  net,  $2.00. 

5— POLITICAL  PARTIES  AND  PARTY  PROBLEMS  IN  THE 
UNITED  STATES.  A  sketch  of  American  Party  History  and  of  the 
Development  and  operations  of  Party  Machinery,  together  with  a  Con- 
sideration of  Certain  Party  Problems  in  their  Relation  to  Political  Moral- 
ity.    By  James  A.  Woodburn.     Octavo,  net,  $2.00. 

6.— THE  WRITINGS  OP  AMERICAN  STATESMEN.  Edited 
for  the  use  of  instructors  and  students  in  American  Constitutional 
History. 

I.— The  Writings  of  George  Washington.     Edited  with 
introduction  and  notes  by  Lawrence  B.  Evans,  Professor 
of  History  in  Tufts  College.     Octavo,  net,  82-50. 
This  selection  of  letters,  state  papers,  and  miscellaneous  writings  of 
George  Washington  contain  the  most  typical  and  permanently  impor- 
tant material  penned  by  our  first  President.     The  Washington  is  to  be 
followed  by  companion  volumes  containing  similar  selections  from  the 
Writings  of  Jefferson,  Hamilton,  and  others. 


G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS 

New  York  London 


American  Orations 

FROM  THE  COLONIAL  PERIOD 
TO  THE  PRESENT  TIME 


Selected  as  specimens  of  eloquence,  and  with 
special  reference  to  their  value  in  throwing  light 
upon  the  more  important  epochs  and  issues  of 
American  history. 

Edited,  with  introductions  and  notes,  by  the 
late  Alexander  Johnston,  Professor  of  Juris- 
prudence in  the  College  of  New  Jersey. 

Re-edited,  with  new  material  and  historical 
notes,  by  James  A.  Woodburn,  Professor  of 
American  History  and  Politics  in  Indiana  Uni- 
versity. 

FOUR  VOLUMES, 

EACH    COMPLETE   IN    ITSELF   AND    SOLD    SEPARATELY 

Crown  octavo,  gilt  tops,  per  volume,  $1.25 
Set,  four  volumes,  in  a  box  .  .  5.00 
Half  calf,  extra    .        •        •        •        .  10.00 

Series  I.  Colonialism — Constitutional  Govern- 
ment— The  Rise  of  Democracy — The  Rise 
of  Nationality. 

Series  II.  The  Anti-Slavery  Struggle. 

Series  III.  The  Anti-Slavery  Struggle  {Contin- 
ued) — Secession. 

Series  IV.  Civil  War  and  Reconstruction — 
Free  Trade  and  Protection — Finance  and 
Civil-Service  Reform. 

"  Regarded  merely  as  studies  in  language,  these  orations  contain  some 
of  the  most  eloquent  and  persuasive  speeches  in  the  English  tongue.  But 
more  than  this,  the  present  collection  has  a  permanent  historical  value 
which  can  hardly  be  overestimated.  The  very  spirit  of  the  times  is  pre- 
served in  these  utterances ;  and,  presented  in  this  cogent  form,  history  in 
a  peculiar  sense  repeats  itself  to  the  reader,  who  feels  the  impulse  of  part 
«vtr.  is  and  the  vitality  of  great  principles  behind  them."— School  Journal. 

G.  P.  PUTNAM'S   SONS 
New  York  London 


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